Ticking the Clock of Time backwards
by Tris PhantomEvans
Summary: There are things she shouldn't know but still does. There is a reason why he's always near her. There is a mission they need to do. Maka, the Contractor. Oz, the Chain. They only have two weeks to go back in time and save history before the Abyss swallows the world and Glen changes the past. Tick, tock. Time goes on.
1. The Meister's strange rabbit

**Hello, Tris PhantomEvans here! This is my second crossover, a Pandora Hearts and Soul Eater (yes, I'm an obssessed Eater fan) one at it! For those who might also be reading The Strangest Horcruxe, don't worry about it, I'm working on it and I'll have next chapter post up on Friday (because it fits the mood of Halloween, you'll understand why). This idea came to me while I was (and still am) on a Pandora Hearts craze and for the timeline: for Pandora Hearts, it'll be somewhere before Retrace: I Am and for Soul Eater, well, this chapter will tell it. My god, I'm going to have so much fun writing this up!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater or Pandora Hearts. I'm just not enough a Genius for that *sighs***

**Well, what are you waiting for? Geronimo!**

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><p>Chapter 1: The Meister's strange rabbit<p>

Soul's PoV

I'm not sure what exactly happened and half the time, I was unconscious and completely knocked-out. I just managed to wake up at that time to stare at… whatever was happening to my Meister, Maka.

I had not been the only one to gaze in confusion at what was happening to her. The others have woken up too by that time, Kid, BlackStar and their weapons looking in surprise at her while they struggled to get on their feet again after the beat-up they suffered from Asura, the Kishin we've been fighting against.

Black and grey razor-sharp blades had protruded all over from Maka's body, shredding Asura's flesh as they pierced through him but that didn't seem to bother him at all. On top of Maka, he grinned down at her, his sickly-skinned hand clasped around her neck as black blood slowly dripped on her face.

"Maka…" I managed to rasp but my already faint voice was drowned into silence by her blood-curling scream.

I shivered as it happened, her screaming sending my blood to freeze and my mind to stop thinking correctly, seeing red instead. The blades she conjured shattered like glass breaking on the floor. Her cry had pierced through my ears and I tried to call after her again and move closer to her but my voice was too hoarse and my body was too weak to move without suffering. All the while I was struggling, I heard Asura whisper things to Maka and I saw her staring dazed at him. I had gritted my teeth and my knuckles had gone white. The damn bastard. What had he been doing to her? Whatever it was, I'll kill him.

Then...

"Let her go, Asura." Her voice had been high and clear and hadn't held any trace of fear. Maka had almost looked bored.

"I told you to let go of your sanity." He cooed at her, gripping her neck even tighter, "Have you already forgotten who you are?" a single finger had gently traced her cheek down and I had to resist the urge to tackle and strangle him.

"Don't you dare touch a hair out of her!" I spat at him venomously but my words fell to deaf ears.

"No, she didn't forget. Maka is stronger than you'll ever be and that's why I'm here. To protect her, and the world." The words that had poured out of her mouth hit me like a bullet and I had slumped further on the ground.

I looked over to my left side to where Kid is and quietly mouthed him the question 'What's going on with her?' to which the golden-eyed boy simply shook his head in confusion. So I had turned back and watched as the events unfolded themselves.

"You better listen up Asura, for I will not show you any mercy if you even as so touch a single hair off Maka's friends, and send you into the Abyss, a fate worse than death if you ask me. The fate only someone like you deserve." Her voice had suddenly become cold and her eyes – even from where I am, steely.

"Is that a threat?" Asura's laugh sent icy shudders down my spine but I shrugged it off and tried walking toward him and Maka anyways, "I'm so _scared!_"

At that moment, the floor had cracked under me and I somehow managed to leap away before it was turned into a pile of rubble and torn me apart on the way. Although, I didn't saw the skin-colored scarf behind and I choked as it rounded me up and restrained me. I heard the others cry my name as I was elevated into the air and about to be crushed on the ground. Stupid Kishin.

My single thoughts had concentrated now only on the hard steel feeling in the depths of my guts and intensifying it into growing to shape my weapon form and replace my body with it. My blade had sliced through the scarf and I fell clattering on the broken floor before taking back my original form and start running toward my captured Meister, despite the pain shooting up from my chest, where the beam had hit me.

"What are you going to do, little meister? I did after all beat up your friends and your weapon is out of reach. You can't do anything."

For an answer, she glared at him viciously, "You don't know what Maka is capable of doing or what _I'm _capable of doing."

"Maka! Why aren't you fighting?" I questioned her in my loudest tone, desperate to free her from Asura's grasp and keep her safe.

She turned her head away from Asura's gaze to my direction and _smirked,_ "She will defend herself but she won't be conscious of it and I'll help her with it." Then her eyes twinkled mischievously, "Don't tell her anything about what's coming when she'll wake up. And oh! You better shield your eyes."

I didn't have time to register what she said. That's when a blast of white light exploded from her and thrown everything around her away, stone, remains of destroyed buildings, a Kishin and a Demon Scythe with it. I hit an already broken wall that I achieved to destroy it using only my head. I gave in a loud cry, my head throbbing violently and pulsating with pain but I used all my will to try to get up and see what's happening. What I saw took my breath away and left me gasping.

Chains dangled from all around Maka, materialized out of nowhere and they coiled all around her like affectionate snakes. But what really shocked me and – yes, I admit it – scared me a little was the large bloody-red scythe in her hands and the enormous spectral shadow of a rabbit hovering over her. Black sparks lit up the red domed sky from her and slowly rose up, wind picking up and whipping her hair madly. Crimson red eyes were revealed. My head blacked out of any thoughts.

"_MAAKKKAAA!"_ I screamed in fury, my own red eyes boring the Kishin's squinted ones.

"What did you do to her, you fucking bastard!" in turn shouted a blue-haired loud-mouth ninja known as BlackStar as he picked up Tsubaki in her dagger mode.

"I… I don't think the Kishin did a-anything…" stammered Kid, watching anxiously and in morbid awe my pig-tailed meister rising to her feet, red eyes gleaming.

"Right answer, Reaper boy. I told her not to do it but then she Maka-Chopped me, invaded more than enough of my privacy and played her stubborn card. She looks a bit like Alice." I don't know who the hell Alice is but Maka chuckled at it, however, it sounded like nothing of her normal laugh. I was bittersweet.

"So," she continued, turning to the Kishin's rising form, "Asura…" her blond fringe covered her eyes and she pursed her lips.

But when she raised her head, I saw her grin psychotically at him, wielding the scythe in a complicated manner, the chains swinging swiftly around her and the rabbit's shadow swallowing in the darkness the sphere we were trapped in, the only thing filled with light then being two pairs of ruby-red eyes.

"_**Looks like your time is uuupppp!"**_ a tremor ran through me at the demented look on her face and I propped myself up when a crack exploded underneath her feet, creating a deep crater.

"I don't think so, little _Chain_." growled Asura before sending skin-colored missiles at her.

In response, Maka jumped over the cliff where she stood and spun in the air, the scythe spinning and twirling with her while slicing through the scarfs. A chain delved in and rounded her waist before pulling her in straight into Asura as she brought the blade down on him, grinning maniacally at him. He was too surprised to even react and the scythe slashed across his chest, sending black blood to splatter on Maka and the uneven ground, making large smudges of inky black liquid. Maka though, didn't seem to notice, her eyes bearing into the Kishin's, both frenzied.

"Don't try to hide," I had heard Maka say with a playful smile, "because I will always seek and find you Asura."

Chains scurried around him in a matter of seconds and they sailed into the air, him snarling and fighting against their grip, before crashing against an already crumbling wall. A few restrained him by the ankles and wrists and a few other slowly rose, pointy ends aimed at him, readying themselves for the blow. Then they struck, piercing his chest with the spiked, sharp ends.

He screeched and I fell to my knees, clutching my chest as pain throbbed from it. The chains dripping of blood, they unraveled from him and started spinning around him in a tight circle, looking like they were almost tracing something on the ground. Meanwhile, Maka had slowly walked toward him, looking suddenly anxious. Another glowing light shatters the darkness and now that I was looking at it, the blood_ did_ trace something, what looked like a weird cryptic circle to be more precise.

The pale purple radiance increased, strange runes blazing on the circle and Maka stood before the chained Asura, her eyes more nervous than ever but looking solemn.

"Kishin Asura, you have crossed the line you never should have, destroying countless souls on the passage and spreading insanity across the world like a disease. Now, you must pass judgement, the judgement of the Abyss." I saw her shudder and it looked like an emotional shadow was casted over her eyes.

"Your sin is… _**your madness!**_"

Wind blew past me and swirled around Maka like a whirlpool and I heard him shout, anger and fear flaring up in his voice. I saw chains, _other_ chains, rise up from a sudden hole where Asura stands, encircling him, restraining him and pulling him down in to an abyss of darkness, into the myth we've heard so much about, the prison out of time called the Abyss. And he shouted, his voice rising like a tsunami and invading my mind:

"_**Black Bloodstained RAABBIIITTTT!"**_

The darkness pulled him down and the Abyss swallowed him under our horrified gazes. Maka's eyes turned back to their emerald green and she fell, out-cold, on what's left of the ground while I ran after her.

Little did I know that this was only the beginning of a whole new craziness.

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><p><strong>*cackles evilly* HAHAHA! <em>This<em> is how the Kishin should have died, all badass and blood and by an equally awesome Maka/Oz! XD How do you guys think about it? Should I go on? Or are you all too bored to read this (unless you want to sleep, ****_that_ is understandable)? Leave a review and tell me all about it! Also, I'm kinda wondering: would you people like to see some MakaxOz? I wanted to try this pairing out (even if in my mind, I'm a total crazy Ozbert and ElliOz fangirl) for a while and I would like to know your opinion on this.**

**Well, that's it for me then, on this note, Aurevoir and Auf Wedersien (german)!**


	2. Shadow of broken memories

**Chapter two up! Anyone one happy in the audience? *evades the tomato thrown at me* That was not nice! *throws said tomato at spectactor* Take that! Oops, sorry for that rude interruption! Anyways, I keep feeling like this chapter is a filler but who the hell cares?! I'm updating two chapters today for this story! Be happy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater or Pandora Hearts. Our little Jun and Atushi's sadism level is way up mine, so high I wonder if they were once serial killers.**

**Well, what are you waiting for? Geronimo!**

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><p>Chapter 2: Shadows of broken memories<p>

3rd person's PoV

_«Aha! I finally found you! After all that time, I have finally discovered your hiding place, my little stellar! » That voice…_

_«So we finally meet, small sliver...» Who…are they?_

_Images breach like broken shard of mirrors inside her closed eyes, a spider web of destroyed dreams and memories. They glitter like stars and flow freely though her mind, making no sense whatsoever._

_It's as if she was burning from the inside, heat rising into her chest at such high degrees, it seems like a fire is blazing within her. She falls on her knees, the door standing like a mountain before her._

_The souls swirl all around her, a brilliant golden cluster of stars, and an absolutely gorgeous show of transcendent galaxies. _

_A strange room, where dolls sing and a familiar laugh reaches her ears. She feels like she already seen this before, as if the dolls were her friends. She scratches a black cat behind his ears, she smiles sweetly at him. _

_She stares at her soul within the black blood's madness. It is so tiny, yet it holds so much power, and even deeper, something else gently stirs, something luminous and timeless, purring gently at her holding it, an entity that is the core of the soul…_

_A young man with green eyes smiles down at her. A young boy with those same bright green eyes does the same, at the top of her school while the two sit on the stairs._

_«Let's make a pact! » she yells at said boy, deep within a void of inky blackness, a world vacant of any color._

_Unhinged pictures of people swirl round and around in her mind, a boy with mismatched eyes, another with golden eyes, like a raven's, a beautiful woman with wispy back hair and entrancing red eyes. A boy with striking blue eyes and a hot-temper, a black-haired one with round glasses, a girl with piercing lavender eyes. They all look so familiar to her…_

_She longs for something, she always yearns deeply for… someone… she really needs it… she seeks for it without thinking…_

_«Maka, you are actually – »_

_NO!_

From the darkness of unconsciousness, gentle light starts dazzling through, piercing through the curtains of obscure bliss and black blindness, stirring someone's awakening along with the fluttering of a pair of emerald green eyes, slicing the veil between dreams and awareness, coming back to reality.

Soft white light shines through glassy windows and plummets down in the mid-flight before reflecting itself on ash blond hair. Dazed green eyes blink slowly, as if trying but failing to process what they're looking at and what is going on. A slender but thin body sluggishly sits up on the bed it was lying on, rustling up a white button-up blouse, the green and white striped tie attached to the collar moving with her. Two pairs of red and golden-ringed eyes snatch themselves from their glaring contest to worriedly watch over the girl.

"Ah Maka, you're awake! How do you feel?" asks the red-eyed boy.

"I…" starts before mentioned Maka but she's cut off.

"Idiot! Don't ask her that, she just woke up!" hisses the golden-ringed boy, nervously passing his hand in his black hair.

"She's my meister Kid, why should I _not_ ask her that? After what happened there…" a mutual shudder pass between the two boys as they recall the events that happened in the midst of the battle against Asura against the blond meister.

Maka, always sensing whenever there is tension between two boys about a girl (Geez, and she just woke up. Can they be more obvious?) decides to break it by adding her own words.

"I feel perfectly fine guys, nothing to worry about. And what are you two talking about? What happened? Where's Asura?" she blinks at them, fully awake. Behind her, her shadow gently stirs, moving while she didn't look but no one notices it.

"Well you –" Kid begins but the albino called Soul steps on his foot quite violently to shut him up, thinking about what the red-eyed Maka said. Too late, though.

"I what?" Maka asks in her ever so sweet voice. Too soft. _Dangerously _sweet.

"Nothing!" Soul shrieks, stomping even harder on Kid's foot when said boy opens his mouth to talk, flinching instead "The Kishin was killed and you were knocked out!" sadly, Maka knows her weapon too well and feels like he's too panicky to her taste.

"Soul, Kid? What did I do?" Maka growls with a way-too-wide-and-creepy smile, her eyes shooting lightning.

One of mentioned boy takes a long inhale, "Nothing Maka, really. It's just the way the Kishin died, it was a little…" he trails off, trying to find the appropriate word to describe what happened.

"Disturbing." Kid finishes for him and Soul nods in agreement.

Maka frowns, skeptical, "How did the Kishin died?" her thoughts though are drifting towards many other paths and possibilities and one in particular stands out. Except she's probably going to need her trusty book for that one.

"Well," Soul tries to explain to his meister, "it was kind of like it was swallowed by a weird portal and he said something about the Abyss." He shrugs casually. Technically, it's not lying so he thinks he's good. It's almost pitiful how he doesn't know the damage he just did.

_I knew it!_ Maka thinks grimly.

"Wait." Kid butts in and Soul has to restrain himself from stabbing his friend, "wasn't there something about a rab- Ouch!" he cries when Soul crushes Kid's foot with his own, replacing his toes with tiny scythes for good measure. But for Maka, it's the confirmation of her theory. At the back of her mind and shadow, she feels his fear grow as he weeps his future death.

"Huh, I wonder why he did that." Maka speaks her thoughts aloud and notices the boys staring at her, a tentative snicker playing in her head meanwhile, "How are the others?"

"Oh, you know, bandaged up and at the cafeteria eating while trying to bring BlackStar down from performing another of 'his all mighty shows' again." snorts Soul and Maka grins. So everything is going back to normal, with the Kishin gone.

_Well, not everything, there's other stuff too…_ she thinks bitterly and she can almost see him shuffling nervously, looking guilty. But she doesn't regret one bit of summersaulting into this mess. If anything, it's her own fault if he's here, stuck with her.

"Is there anything you need?" Kid asks in a concerned voice, as if expecting Maka to break at any second but he's more worried about her behavior, almost waiting for her eyes to turn bloody red again and for her to summon the spiked chains and scythe. Somewhere, another boy snickers again at Kid's face.

As if on cue, Maka's stomach growls vociferously, signaling to everybody on the floor of the school who have ears that she is hungry. She blushes furiously, embarrassed by her body's reaction while the boys (_all _the boys) grin mockingly at her, two of them thinking about how cute she looked with her face flushing like that while the other is instantly reminded of an amethyst-eyed girl and her behavior when hungry. She mumbles something inaudible and when Kid and Soul look at her in a perplexed way, she motions her hand to the door leading out of the infirmary.

"Tell the others that I'm awake on the way!" she shouts at them as her two 'pretendants' (well, in _his_ eyes anyway) leave to find her food. She waits for their souls to be out of earshot and looks over to watch her shadow on the wall and floor sway nervously.

"Oz." the shadow sways more anxiously, as if trying to escape her grasp. Tough luck.

_"Oz."_ her voice is back at being too gentle. Bad news for him.

Maka grits her teeth and firmly concentrate her soul wavelength on the soul inside her shadow, making it twists and shape itself into a more boyish form, mismatched red and green eyes glowing in it and soul pulsating with anticipated fear. He could just run away but then again, it wouldn't be a book anymore. No, Maka would _have his head._

**_"MAKAA CHOP!"_** a thick leather book sails away and hits its mark when a very manly cry is heard and a loud 'thump' is ensued afterwards, as the boy's real body is pulled out of the shadow with a book-shaped dent on his shiny blond hair.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch! How can a book hurts so much?!" Oz whines, a very British accent pouring out of his mouth while he's rubbing his throbbing head. That is the third time now! Oz is pretty sure there is a bruise forming on his head at this very moment.

"It will hurt more if you keep taking over my body!" snaps Maka in an angry tone, her book hanging warningly in her hand.

"That _thing _was going to kill you!" Oz shoots back defensively. The way this, this _Kishin_ was looking at his friend – like he was going to devour her – has disgusted Oz to no end. Also, for his defense, he was desperate to keep Maka safe and sound, as she is his Contractor, his only hope to go back to the past and his friend, almost a sister to him. And Oz is tired of losing his friends. It hurts too much.

"I could have beaten the Kishin by myself." Maka drones on stubbornly.

"You weren't even conscious." counters-back Oz, a triumphal smirk crawling on his face.

"I had Soul! I could have tried the Demon Hunter again!" she yells back.

"Yeah, you had an equally unconscious Soul at that."

"Shut up!"

"Nope."

"And," Oz persists with a playful grin, "if it weren't for me, you would have…"

"Don't finish that sentence."

"…stayed stuck in there…"

"Don't you dare." snarls Maka, sensing the teasing coming.

"…with _him_…"

"I swear it, do _not_ say what you're about to say."

"…together, _all alone._" Oz taunters, willing himself to not laugh at Maka's horrified expression. Asura was disgusting but teasing Maka is hilarious (when a book isn't murdering him).

"Oz, that's gross! What do you read to get those ideas?" Maka's sour face is priceless to Oz and he bursts out laughing while she whacks her book heartlessly at him.

"Fanfiction." He states and Maka shrieks even more in disgust while he tries to not tear up from the laughing.

"Don't tell me you actually read those lemons! They're not good, it's all trashy and cliché! Oh no, you _did not_ write some, did you?" to her, being the studious girl she is along with being a bookworm means _no erotica novels_. He teased her a lot since he learned that she read Fifty Shades of Grey and other similar books, something very un-Maka.

Then she showed him how the World Wide Web functioned and his mind has ever since been stuck on Fanfiction whenever he had the time, reading stories of Holy Knight, his eyes glued to the very strange screen in front of him, trying to understand how such a miracle was born.

"Nah, but I could do some for you and Soul." He dives quickly as another book flies over his head and hits the wall while Maka fumes at him and he cackles evilly.

Maka groans, annoyed, "You're impossible, Oz."

He chuckles while he sits back on the chair, "_You're_ impossible, Maka."

"Damn Vessalius."

"Stupid Albarn."

He grins at her teasingly while she pouts obstinately. Again, it is funny to joke around Maka, mostly when he sees all the faces she can make in a matter of minutes. Just like with Gilbert.

_Gil._

Oz wonders how he is doing, along Alice. If they managed to track down Glen again. If they are still in the moment in time where he disappeared or if Oz has been placed back in time somehow where when the instant both exact dates collide, time will start marching forward again. The latter is most probable. That's what the deadline he and Maka made is for. Still, he's terrified of what their outcome could be if he doesn't go back to them quickly. Right now though, their searching about time travel leads them to… nothing. Nada. Rien. Zero. _Nothing. _

"Oz?"

The boy blinks and he suddenly remembers where he is, his gaze sweeping over to meet another pair of forest green eyes. In them lie determination, all anger and embarrassment gone. She sees him sometime space out like that, she's used to it and she is perfectly conscious of the problem at hand and what could be the consequences if she doesn't get Oz to go back in time. She also understands how he misses his friends dearly. She's in the same situation about her mom.

"We're going to find something; we're going to find the way to take you back to the past. I wouldn't have done this Contract with you for nothing." Maka grasps his hand tightly, squeezing it reassuringly to remind him that this fight isn't over yet. Not even nearly. She won't let it.

Maka grins at him warmly, "Lumos."

Oz does the same, though more sheepishly, "Nox."

At this moment, the door is not opened but destroyed as splinters of wood with broken pieces of metal hinges fly away, leaving a smoking star-patterned shoe at its place, a body following onwards.

"HAHAHAHA! THE GREAT BLACKSTAR IS HERE TO ENTERTAIN THE NOW AWAKE MAKA!" shouts said blue-haired ninja, pumping his fist in the air.

Immediately, two books fly away at the same time the ninja leaps in the air and he lands on the floor on the other side of Maka's bed, two large dents carved in his head as he bleeds into comatose. Oz suspects it was an encyclopedia this time from Maka though his was the book he managed to evade. Maka takes the autograph BlackStar lends her and she grins while rolling her eyes before she reprimands him to have broken the door (again), letting go of Oz's hand, though he doesn't mind.

The others, meaning Tsubaki, Crona, Liz, Patty, Kid and Soul follow suit and only now then does BlackStar notices the green-eyed blond next to Maka. The others do too.

"Oi! Who are you? How can you arrive more quickly than the Great BlackStar?!" don't mind the capitals on the 'great', it's meant to put more drama in the moment. The subject of the question shifts nervously in his chair under everybody's glare and questioning looks.

"Call me Oz." he finally admits, trying to send a cheerful smile at the other students, "I'm a friend of Maka's and I heard that she was in the infirmary so I came to see her." The group stare at him, still wary of him. Mostly the raven-haired boy, Kid. Maka expected that from the beginning but it still gets her nervous.

Said boy feels a strange aura coming from Oz's presence. Firstly, he notices the clothes he's wearing, the black trench coat, the lace attached around his neck collar, the white blouse underneath the coat, the white gloves in his hands, the black trousers he's wearing along with the knee-high boots, boots that are weirdly mostly used for riding horses. In all honesty, Oz looks like an aristocratic boy from a grand noble family. And his British accent is _not _helping.

Secondly, there is this eerie sensation coming to Kid that Oz almost doesn't seem… human. His skin is a deathly pale and the Shinigami could swear he's seeing tiny flecks of red in the blonde's green eyes. Also, it almost looks like there is an abnormal presence hovering above Oz, like an overwhelming shadow and his soul are sending unnatural wavelengths, like the calm before a storm, where Kid can only see calm wavelengths emanating but he knows, he just _knows_ and _feels _that there is something underneath, rising like a tsunami but never surfacing. Yet.

Maka, on the other hand, knew from the start that all and every meister of the school would be able to sense an otherworldly presence within Oz; she prepared herself for it and searched for a way to protect his Chain's soul from being detected. Because the presence of a Chain in the world is worse than any Pre-Kishin, most of all if it is the most powerful Chain, B-Rabbit. If it weren't for the fact that Maka had put aside her pride and dignity to teach Oz how to use Soul Protect (she nearly got herself killed by witches just to steal a book teaching that technique), he would have the police, the military, the UNIT, the DWMA _and _the Grim Reaper himself chasing him down. But there is still a bit of B-Rabbi's power leaking past the spell, creating the uncanny presence from Oz.

"You're Maka's friend?" Liz asks curiously, although obviously creeped out by Oz's presence, "I've never seen you before, or at the Academy at all."

Yeah, blame that on the fact that Oz spent most of his time at the library and that he lives in the underground tunnels, where the Kishin revived. Nobody would _ever_ think of even trying to search _down there_. Not even Stein. No one would think either that Maka forces him to take classes through her shadow.

"Uh, I've just came here last week and she's the first student I met." now Oz is practically playing his 'cute faced lies' card now. And it works, seeing as Liz faintly blushes at his face along with Patty squealing at him. She could swear there are flowers dancing behind him.

Though there are two particular boys glaring daggers at Oz, who instantly notices it and grins at them sweetly, fueling their irritation. It's easy for them to see Oz as nothing more than a womanizer – which he kinda is when he wants to. Oz could easily imagine Sharon squealing like Patty if she saw their faces right now, probably planning the outcome of their love lives and the demise of one of the boys. If Sharon was here, that is. And in a good mood, seeing in what state he saw Break in. He blinks back tears. Maybe that was the last time he ever saw Break _alive_ again.

Ache, guilt, sadness and overwhelming grief swirl within him and his smile falters.

Maka nudges him with her elbow, "Go to the library, I'll join up later."

Oz doesn't protest and he nods numbly at her before getting up and bolting through the door, suddenly wanting to be desperately alone, wanting to avoid the jealous glares from Soul and Kid, the curious ones from Patty and BlackStar, the slightly nervous one from Liz and the terrified one from the quiet Demon Sword, Crona. Least of all, Oz doesn't want to see Maka's warm gaze locking into his, as if trying to say that everything is going to get fixed. Because it won't.

After all, he is trapped in the future.

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><p><strong>Poor Oz! Away from his friends and family and stuck in the modern world! But still, I'm not done yet, one more chapter to go! Wait for it guys!<strong>

**Well, that's it for me then, on this note, Aurevoir and Auf Wedersien!**


	3. Maka in Wonderland

**Chapter three, are you happy? Well, I ain't, I didn't exactly proofread so if there is an error that needs to be corrected, either PM me or post it on the review box!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater or Pandora Hearts. **

**Well, what are you waiting for? Geronimo!**

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><p>Chapter 3: Maka in Wonderland<p>

3rd Person's PoV

"Tick."

"Tock."

"Lumos."

"Nox."

Those are the words people often hear from a strange pair at the Academy, from a one-star scythe meister and a strange boy always looming around her, where the students don't even know if he is a weapon or a technician. He's most certainly a professional when it comes to wield a scythe, some people even come to consider and assume he's better than Stein. Others, mostly girls, say he certainly is good-looking enough to be a weapon and some would tell that they actually saw bloody-red, deep crimson replace his usually bright green eyes though a great part of the school would ignore those people and seek for other theories. The boy, Oz, was seen – though quite rarely, with a wickedly-sharp red scythe, so the students would go to think that he is a meister but nobody knows who the weapon is.

But back to the subject, the mystery between meister Maka and the odd Oz. Through the week that passed since the Kishin's sudden disappearance, they became the topic of every conversation, which a certain loud-mouth despised. The students of the school noticed lately that the two were close and secretive, talking in low voices, sometimes grinning at each other when they said what looks like code words only they could understand.

Yet, everyone can sense an uncanny tension hovering over them, as the duo seem to be waiting for something and pass most of their free times in the library, always searching books in restricted sections. At each day passing, they seem to get more and more nervous and frantic and not one person gets why. They have become very distant.

Only, no one, nobody, knows the story behind them and least of all the group composing Maka's friends, where the pair was even more elusive, to Kid and Soul's demise and jealousy along with the rest of the other's curiosity. When asked about how the two met, the pair would immediately try to change the subject of the conversation or saying that it doesn't matter, fueling the elusive puzzle.

Maka and Oz are an enigma.

**Flashback**

Maka's PoV

"So, this is the place?" Soul asks next to me, shivering cold wind blowing onto us.

I rub my goose-bumped arms and glance at him, "Yep. There is a legend behind this place, you know? There seem to have been a reason people once called this place the 'Door of the Abyss'." I add in my own little dramatic touch, trying to make my sentence sound gloomier.

"Yeah?" Soul says, curious, "Do tell."

I look over from where we stand, my eyes sweeping to the crumbling walls that had once constituted a proud and beautiful archway, to the cathedral-high ceiling, the paintings decorating it faded and blurred and to the enormous complexly carved double doors, the only thing that had withstood against time's rampage. Soft moonlight filters itself through the broken and opaque glistening shards of broken windows, as if trying to regain its original colorfully vibrant schemes that had disappeared with the dust floating strong in the air, covering everything in layers.

Centuries must have passed with not one living soul stepping a single foot here.

"People used to say," I speak, my voice echoing into the vastness of the nothingness filling this arcade, reverberating all around me, "that there were once guardians of these doors. Chosen ones. Their name was well-known and they were called the Baskervilles. It was said that they were not human, that they would be able to still stand up even after being hit by a fatal blow and that they have the ability to summon fantastic creatures, beings from another world. I read that the Baskervilles could see things none of us can, things that used to shine in that other world and that now it's just a void of darkness. The Baskervilles were supposed to monitor that place, this place called…"

"The Abyss." Soul finishes for me, frowning, "But it's just a myth, right? Those creatures must have been… tamed Pre-Kishins." He shrugs, eyeing the door in front of us warily.

"I'm not sure if it's just a myth. Every legend comes from some sort of truth and Lord Death wouldn't have had sent us here to investigate the disappearances if it was just a myth." I calmly answer, watching over the shadows of the long-destroyed hall, ready to be alerted by any sign of living monster.

Nothing stands except us, everything still and silent, the only hollow sound resonating around us being the moans of the wind blowing into the sky, my cape swooshing to it. Even with the seemingly silence of dread, I can actually _feel_ something humming in the air, pounding into my ears in a hypnotic rhythm, inciting me to sense its dark energy. That's when I see them.

They glow so brightly, the orbs shining all around me, the luminous souls that had been detached from long-gone bodies, lonesome iridescence in the dark curtains of the night. Like stars, they swirl in a celestial dance around me, a cluster of souls directed to…

"The door." I gasp, suddenly clutching Soul in my hands in a flash of blue.

"What about it? Did you sense something?" he asks from the scythe blade, his sense on high alert.

"I didn't saw it before but there is this mass of souls all pointing to the door in front of us. There must be something behind it, possibly the cause of the vanishing people." I scowl, utterly confused. It's just an abandoned door… so why do I feel so much longing for this place?

When I'll think about this moment later when I wake up, the only thing I'll remember is suddenly hearing _her voice._

_«Aha! I finally found you! After all that time, I have finally discovered your hiding place, my little stellar! »_

From thereafter, everything melted into obscurity.

…

"Look! She's waking up!"

"She will be so happy to see her!"

"Yes, yes! How Alice will be happy!" A…lice?

Laughter echoes in my head, childish reverberation of sound gently dancing all around me. I slowly crack one eye open, light filtering through to infill my mind with awareness and wake, momentarily blinding me even with my hair covering my face. I'm conscious that I'm lying on my back but it is not the first thing my mind registers though.

I stare at one single red eye.

Needless to say, I let out a small squeak of surprise before scrambling back a pace from it, staring in sluggish confusion at the person crouched before me. Within the mass of spiky black hair, two equally black cat ears perk up and with a jolt I realize that I'm not even staring at 'someone 'but at 'something', its tail swerving from one way to another, its hands replaced by large black claws over its bent knees.

"Cheshire!" I blurt out before slapping a hand over my mouth. Where did that came from? The weird humanoid cat tilts its head on one side and stares at me with more curiosity.

For a few seconds, I gaze quietly at the cat sniffing me, the bells on the red scarf knitted around his neck jingling to his movements. Then it almost looks like its smiling.

"Lumos!" it shouts cheerfully, its voice strangely masculine. Then, as if sensing someone else's presence, he veers around himself and gazes at a locked door that I hadn't notice up until now. Actually, it's only now that I understand that I'm in a strange room.

I study quietly this odd place, observing the shelves stacked with dolls and the diamond paned windows revealing nothing out of the exterior but blank darkness, the flower vases filled with aromatic roses, the grand-father clock ticking again and again along with the table at the center of the round room, papers drawn all over spread about and the velvet canopy in front of it. I frown at the rich carvings ornamenting all the furniture of this room. This looks like the kind of room a millionaire would have. Where am I?

Disturbed laughing resonates once again around the room and I gape at the dolls suddenly floating toward me, their laughter becoming more and more insane. All senses on high alert, I bolt upright and stand back up on the black and red checkered floor, taking a fighting stance and readying myself for any form of attack. I take a glance at their souls and freeze for a second, astonished. Their souls are not animal, nor are they human at all and least of all, they are not Kishin Eggs. What are they? They almost seem familiar, like I have already seen a soul like this once before…

The door opens and a cheerful voice comes in, halting my thoughts.

"Lumos! Just look at how you grown up!" my gaze follows the owner's voice and gawk at what is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my whole life. I'm not even exaggerating here. She's an angel, quite literally.

Like Soul, she has snowy white hair, so pure it almost blinds me, flowing behind her like wispy strands of air; so long it ends at her knees. She has bright piercing amethyst eyes, meeting my own emerald one with a happy gaze, as if I am a friend she hasn't seen since ever. Her white dress opens at her tights – like my own trench coat – revealing a white frilly skirt adorned by turquoise roses and long slender legs, a white long bow attached around her waist and the front black laced. Her arms are gloved from the elbow, opening up at her hands and equally black laced. Fastened around her neck is a black fastened choker garlanded by the same indigo-colored roses at her skirt. She is absolutely gorgeous. Yet…

"Lumos?" I ask quietly, confused by the name given to me. To be more exact, it's a Latin word that is supposed to mean 'Light'. I go on, "Who's Lumos? Where am I? Who are you?" I bite my lip to refrain myself from going on with a bombshell of questions and decide to stare at the girl intently.

She almost seems surprised by my demand, "You don't know? You liked coming here and play with my toys before! You were the only actually. You were so small…" a nostalgic expressions cross over her features.

I take a few steps back and continue to gaze at her, "I… don't know what you're talking about." I say carefully, watching for any imminent danger, "I don't remember ever coming here." Again, I'm frozen on my tracks when I stare at the girl's soul, amazed by the immense power residing within it, so grand that I can more _feel_ then see that it rivals with Lord Death's. And there is something else, another entity…

"Oh, you must have forgotten me." the girl looks a bit sad by my statement. But then she adds, like an after-thought, "It must have taken your memories away." I stare at her blankly.

"Who are you?" I repeat, more confused than ever.

"I'm Alyss!" now she's back at being cheerful again, smiling sweetly at me before approaching me and hugging me, "I missed you Lumos!" like a stone, I grow still as she presses herself against me before releasing me and picking a blond strand of my hair, "You still have your pig-tails!" Alyss does not seem in the least bothered by my strange hair style and grins at me eagerly.

Before I could utter another question, Alyss suddenly shouts, "Oh, look at the clock! It's tea time already!" suddenly the dolls swarm all around us, singing in a chorus, the cat jumping a bit around and helping them set things up while I am out of the blue being pushed around, not understanding single thing at all of what's going on until I am abruptly sat on a metal chair in front a round table, Alyss smiling eagerly at me, a batch of tea in front of us with biscuits.

"W-wait!" I achieve to say over the dolls' laughter, "Why am I here? What is this place? Why do you keep calling me Lumos?" somehow I'm a bit wary of eating anything of this really weird room so I just resign myself at drinking a bit of tea, looking curiously at Alyss.

"I thought you came here by yourself, did you not? The only way to get in my room is by the Baskerville's doors of the Abyss otherwise you are lost in the deepest depths of the Abyss. But you don't even remember your name?!" she stares wide-eyed at me and I can't help but compare her to Crona. There seems to be an almost childish atmosphere within the two.

"Well, I have to say that my real name is Maka so I think you might be picking out the wrong person?" she stares at me sadly again and for the second time I feel like I am also looking at Crona.

"So that's your real name?" Alyss chuckles and I sense again nostalgia emanating from her, "You used to say that you didn't like your name and that you liked the word 'Lumos'. You said that 'light' suits you." For a few moments I stay silent, musing over her words. A sudden wave of familiarity crashes over me and I sense something within me writhe, as if heeding me, calling me but never really attaining me.

"But no matter! You will forever still be Lumos to me! Actually, Nox came back here too! You called him Nox because you said his soul is like the moon in the night!" again, I feel something stir up within me and I struggle to reach it.

"You know I have Soul Perception?" I ask, frowning. I know nothing of this stranger but she seems to know everything about me? Odd.

"Silly question, of course I do! The lights that were here before were souls too! Waiting for the hundred years of wandering to be over!" I cringe slightly.

"There were souls in here?! Did they get eaten?" I inquire quickly, looking at Alyss' surprised expression.

"No they didn't. They got reincarnated. Why that question Lumos?" it's my turn to stare at her, surprised. Reincarnation? It actually exists? And how could she not know why I asked that question?

"Aha!" she suddenly shrieks, as if she got a bingo, "You hunt Kishin Eggs now! I forgot how time moves fast!" I blink at her. The dolls chuckle with her, which frankly, gives in a very creepy effect on me and makes me squirm uncomfortably on my chair.

"Of course Alyss, she's not from your timeline!" a stuffed white bunny says to her.

A girly doll joins in, floating above her, "You met her very long after!"

"Maybe she could help you! She's a fragment!" I'm frozen on my place by that last sentence every doll cheers at her.

"Well…" the albino girl seems a bit hesitant, a strange shadow flashing over her features, "Maybe I could…But what if she ended up like Alice too? I don't want to lose Lumos…" she precipitously gets up, her eyes wide with sudden terror.

"What if she meets Jack!" she screeches, pacing rapidly around the room, her hands suddenly on her hair, "Lumos won't resist, she could… she could…" I get up too, confused.

"I'm here, you know." I mumble at her, "You could tell me if something's wrong, if you know me so well." I really don't know who Alyss is but she's obviously getting all worked up because of something linked to me. She turns to look at me intensively.

"I could…" she grabs her hair and jerks on it, a horrified expression defining her traits, "You could…_ NOO!_" she screams that last word with vehemence, and the floor rumbles under my feet, like an earthquake. Cracks appear on the floor but nothing else but the sound of loud sobbing reaches my ear.

"If Lumos died, it would be my fault! Again!" Alyss sobs while I advance at her, the dolls on my heels.

"Alyss…" I say quietly, feeling really awkward about the situation, "I don't know what's going on but maybe there's another alternative to solve your, err, problem. But right now, I really need to join my friend. He's waiting for me outside the door of the Abyss." She looks at me with tears spilling over her cheeks and I feel really bad for abandoning her in this mess. But I can't even imagine how Soul must be panicking outside the door, probably thinking I disappeared for good.

Out of nowhere, as quickly as it came, Alyss stops sobbing and grabs me by my shoulders while shouting, "Another alternative! That's it! You're brilliant Maka, Lumos!" at least she called me by my name. Although, she's really starting to creep me out.

She lets me go and spins around to look at the cat, "Cheshire! Bring me Alice! We already have Lumos and Nox! That's all we need!" an unsounding message pass between them, before Cheshire's eyes become wide with astonishment and he runs out of the door and disappears.

She looks at me with a wide smile, as if she hadn't cried her eyes out a few seconds ago, "You liked to play with my toys! Mostly Nox, though Alice beats you to the count on that! Let's see him again!" she walks to the one of the immense shelves filled with dolls and picks one up, a black bunny dressed in a red trench coat and a large pink bow.

"Come on out now, B-Rabbit! We need you!" she cheers and light engulfs the bunny, a black and red one, growing so bright yet dark I shield my eyes and back away a few steps. Meanwhile I manage to see the form of the small rabbit changing, growing larger and taller. Wind swirls around us and it suddenly stops, the glow dissipating in beautiful sparks that fall like snowflakes on me.

A groan interrupts my train of thoughts and I level my arm down from my face to stare at B-Rabbit's new appearance. I gawk at him. We could as well be siblings. He wears the same emerald greens eyes as mine, only his are a few shades brighter than mine. Sunny blond hair falls in messy spikes over his face and he wears what looks like black Victorian clothing. He appears to be at the same age as mine. Our gaze meet and we both hold it, studying our resemblance. For me though, I observe how there is a certain sadness overshadowing his eyes, how it seems there is a heavy weight pounding on him.

"You're Lumos." he finally says, his voice high and young.

"And you're Nox." I answer back.

* * *

><p><strong>Yes, I really like the idea of Maka being named Lumos and her calling Oz Nox. Pretty cool, eh? Actually, I got the idea from Harry Potter but whatever. How the hell did Oz came back in the first place? What's Alyss secret plan? Not telling! Let's keep the mystery up and wait for next chapter, shall we?<strong>

**Well, that's it for me then, on this note, Aurevoir and Auf Wedersien!**


	4. Light and Dark

**This time, I proofread it all! So tada! Chapter 4 is up on the count! Dnace, laugh, celebrate people, I put my heart in this! *glares everybody* That's an order. Just Kidding! Just read on, ignore my rambling!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater or Pandora Hearts. I'm just not _that_ insane. *weeps***

**Well, what are you waiting for? Geronimo!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 4: Light and Dark<p>

Oz's PoV

Lumos has grown up.

For starters, she is quite the tall girl. With long slender legs and thin body, everything in her screams 'tall'. Though her hair is still kept in pig-tails, giving her appearance a juvenile demeanor, her eyes aren't as childlike as before. Instead, her wide green eyes burn with ferocious determination, emerald fire blazing within.

I never knew how she came here, in Alyss' room. She was just suddenly here one day, dancing with Cheshire in her orange plain dress, two pink bows lacing her ash blond hair up. When Alice was waiting for her twin to let her go back in her body, the two would bicker as to whose turn it was to play with my tiny rabbit self, though it was mostly Alice the winner – and I did not complain. Where she thought 'Oz' was a great name for me, Lumos had simply decreed that 'Nox' was better. When Alice had asked why…

_"His soul is like the night! Mama told me that 'night' is 'nox' in Latin! I like Nox!" she had declared proudly, smiling cheerfully._

I always thought there was something strange about Lumos – or Maka, since it seems to be her real name. When she came over here, I constantly got the impression that her eyes could see everything within me. My happiness when near Alice, my gratitude toward Lacie, my sheer wonder about being alive. My every emotion. I always felt an odd tingling sensation within my very essence when her forest green eyes landed on me, as if she was analysing me.

Actually, she even had a crisis one day. The prickling feeling had intensified and she kept looking all around herself, looking lost. She was sat on a couch and she kept rubbing her head with her tiny hands, as if a headache was hammering on her. Then she all of the sudden started screaming, writhing on the couch for no reason, alerting Alice who had stopped trying to decapitate my ears and ran to her, me in her hands.

_"Lumos?" she had asked while poking the child's head._

_"Too much! I see too much! They're everywhere! In the whole universe! In Wonderland! I don't want to see them, it hurts! There are too much!" the girl had cried and I felt sad for her, even though I never knew why she was suffering. She had fainted a second later, slumping soundlessly in the canopy. _

_Alice had just stared in immense confusion at the little girl, "She's weird." I couldn't have agreed better with her. _

I guess I know why now. From what I heard, she can see souls. I don't know how that is possible but she obviously can. And I can also guess that she had seen all the souls in the world the day she had her odd sickness.

It's strange seeing Maka back after all these years – scrap that, _centuries_ of absence. Even more after everything had happened since. A girl who simply vanished in the nature just pops back up after a very long time out of nowhere, not even remembering us, not knowing that she got here with the doors of the Abyss and not even aware of what the Abyss is, and above all else, reappearing when chaos is reaching its peak in the real world. I'm conscious that this might be a bit insulting, but just _how much more ignorant is she?_

Of course, Alyss was happy the second she was aware of Lumos' arrival, as happy as she was when I also came back here. But she all knows too well how I got sent back into the Abyss, the way Glen had forced me yet again in a portal when both our scythe and swords had clashed in the timeline of the Tragedy of Sablier, and trapped me here, in the future and how critic the situation is. Alyss is conscious of all that.

Still, I can't help but think of how Lumos changed. She always looks rather younger than what she really is but her eyes are mature. She wears what looks like a trench coat that opens up in a long cape swerving around her ankles. Even more bizarre is the short… red kilt she adorns and the shoes – or boots, it's a bit hard to tell – at her feet. Maka always wore unusual clothing, even as a child. The only thing that doesn't seem out of place is the green and white striped tie fastened around her neck.

"So," Lumos starts, a certain authority in her tone that doesn't miss to surprise me, "can any of you two tell just what the hell is going on?" she stares at me intently and I can only know that she is most likely scanning my soul again. I still don't get though why she doesn't have any recollection of us.

"I am a bit confused too, you know." Technically, yes I am confused. But a few seeds of ideas are implanted in my head already.

Maka leans against a wall, frowning, "Then I'm very sorry to tell you this but people are vanishing Alyss! My friend and I came to this door you talked about to investigate this case, so that it wouldn't happen ever again. I don't understand what is happening, why I am here, who you are or where I am but I need to know why those people are disappearing. Do you know anything about this Alyss? And don't lie; I will immediately know if you do." It appears as if there is an accusation under her words, suspicion tainting it along with frustration.

Alyss smiles a sad smile at the blond and answers, "Yes, I do. It's really all my fault. I caused a lot of trouble." As of lately, Alyss seems to lose her primly insanity, letting guilt replace it along with those words that she seem to repeat a lot.

Maka walks over to the albino and grabs her hands, "I can fix this. I can help you. I'm a meister and my friend is a Demon Weapon. We can help you." Those terms have no meaning to me but Alyss seems to understand them.

"You can't." she responds her calmly, "It's the timequakes that are the cause." Both Lumos (really hard to find her a permanent name) and I frown, a question mark on our faces.

She must have seen our puzzled expressions since she explains herself, "A timequake is one of the repercussions the Abyss has over time and space. It's Glen's work. In Sablier's timeline, he is currently changing the past and like an earthquake, time energy rushes over in the future, changing it. Distorting it. People who live near the doors of the Abyss would eventually get affected, they would be projected both in the past or the future and instead of gradually stopping, the timequakes will just happen more often and more powerful." I can see Alyss' words sinking into Lumos' mind, her eyes widening to them as mine scowl. She opens her mouth to utter a question but I beat her to the punch.

"Le… Glen is doing this? Why can't you do anything?" I ask Alyss but her answer slightly surprises me, though not as much as I thought it would.

The albino's sad expression is suddenly gone, replaced by her wide eager smile, "But I am! It's my fault so I should repair all this! But let's start with showing both of your memories to each other!" I'm already used to Alyss' mood swings but _this?_

_"What?"_ we both shout horrified. Alyss' grin grows wider, disturbing even.

"Of course your memories should be shared!" she chimes giddily, "Why not?" then she snatches both our hands before pulling them to grab each other's wrists.

Bright golden lines, like luminous veins, materialize themselves before going to rope themselves around our wrists, linking us together. My heart suddenly beats louder against my chest, racing a thousand miles per second, a loud pounding in my ears, like the sound of drums and I feel like I'm diving into nothingness, that I am drowning. I barely notice the sky blue wisps of light joining the golden ones from Lumos' side, as dark crimson comes in from me, my awareness sinking lower and deeper in blackness.

"Bind the Black Bloodstained Rabbit and the soulless girl! Let their darkest secrets be revealed!" the toys on the shelve sing, Alyss laughing softly with them.

"Their essences swirl, let's meddle them together! The rift between memories is breached!" Lumos and I fall on our knees, under Alyss' crazed cackling and the doll's maddening chorus.

"Madness…" Maka rasps, her face scrunching up as if in pain, "There is… too much madness in… this room…" I don't know what she is talking about.

"Will their bloody skeletons in the cupboard come out? Hihi… hehehe…. HAHAHAHA!" the dolls laugh and I suddenly feel something crazy hit me, inciting me to laugh with them but I resist. My guts are telling me that I might as well go mad if I do.

"Keep on to your sanity!" Lumos shouts above their laughing, her glare striking me like lightning, "How the hell are they doing this?!" she asks to nobody in particular, looking particularly angry.

"I don't know! What _are_ they doing?" I yell back at her, both of us lying on the checkered floor, panting and barely conscious.

She stares at me as if I was stupid, "You don't know?!" and somehow, she succeed into making me feel stupid too.

Seeming to understand my ignorance, she answers, "They're forcing a Soul Resonance into us!" A soul what?

"Let them synchronise! Let them be filled with hysteria!" Alyss sings, her voice rising and falling.

"Bind Lumos and Nox!" their incessant screaming shreds my mind into a billion of pieces and I give in a cry, Lumos' mere presence barely keeping me sane.

"Bind Light and Dark!"

And suddenly, everything fades into black.

Maka's PoV

That's it, she's crazy. Alyss is utterly _insane._

I never knew anybody able to force a Soul Resonance to two people, one of them not even human to start with. Not even Stein is able to do that. To force two souls into synchronisation, to be stripped to the very core against their will, that's just… cruel.

But it can't be stopped. In a second, I am transported from the world of reality into the immensity of the universe of the mind, hurled into the familiar hurricane of thoughts, emotions and reminiscences. Through the obscurity, like the blazing fire of the moon, Oz's soul shines in the night. Then suddenly, immaculate whiteness. Fiery brilliance. The moon turns black and the night sky, into pure white.

Like pixels, I see cubes of all heights, floating in the middle of the void of snowy endless sky, flashing before my wonder-filled eyes in streaks of black, stormy grey and fluorescent orange, like dysfunctional shooting stars. They bug, like a computer screen would start bugging, dissonant glitches, dissonant noise reaching to heed their call at me, a requiem to unfurl their secrets to me. The cubes twist, glitching deformation, a sign that something within Oz's memory area isn't functioning right. Like memory loss, for example. Amnesia.

With our minds joined, a discordant symphony plays within our souls, holding my fiery rhythm and Oz's melancholy, along with his malfunctions. I lift my hands in my never-ending fall and black threads spread from them, going about in the sky in a wild chase to catch the cubes. I didn't even think about it, it just came naturally to me. The sharp-edged, spiked black filaments touch some of the cubes, attaching themselves like a spider web to them and I am suddenly hurled into a platform constructed by the cubes, watching events replay in front of me, the glitching images of a girl with long silky chocolate brown hair and amethysts eyes squeezing the same rabbit that was Oz not long ago. She is the exact replica of Alyss.

_«Oz! Your name is from now on Oz! »_ information starts seeping in my mind and I suddenly feel his presence within it, curious but a bit afraid about the happenings.

_«What's happening?! Where am I? It feels like you're intruding me! »_that last sentence ends in an accusation and I mentally sigh.

_«Don't worry; it's our minds that are connected. We can feel each other's feelings and see our memories. I won't go too far, I promise. As long as you do the same. »_ I add my own menace at the end of my phrase and I feel him shudder.

The hologram changes into another one, revealing Oz lying on wet grass, his expression empty and deprived of any emotion.

_«Your hands are empty… » _his name is Jack Vessalius. And he created the Tragedy of Sablier.

_«I will reduce them all into nothingness of my own hands. »_ insanity was crawling into his soul, the day he went to Isla Yura's manor.

_«YOU ARE AN IDIOT! » _and this hot-tempered boy is Elliot Nightray. He is the heir of a… Dukedom! Whoa. And he also always bickers with Oz because the latter is always so nice to him and he obviously seems to have a cr…

_«He did not! Just what are you thinking about?! Boys with boys, that's disgusting! » _he interrupts the memory and switches to another.

_«MAAKKAAA CHOP! » _even in the mental world I can hit people with books. I hear a satisfying cry from my mind and I nod to myself.

_«And just what _you _are thinking about?! Welcome to the 21th century, idiot! Boys can get with boys and girls can get with girls without any problem except stupid people like you throwing bullshit to them! » _I yell back angrily at him. He appears on the cubic platform in front of me, a carved dent on his head and shoots a glare which I return back gladly, hopefully with more emphasize.

_«That's not right! It's not natural for people of the same gender to get together! And what are you talking about? We're in the 19th century! » he retorts back heatedly. _

I snort indignantly, _«Tsk, pathetic. The people of your time really don't know how to think by themselves, now don't they? Before it was all sexism against woman and racism for blacks along with slavery. Look at us now! Haha! »_ Just to prove my point, I stop Oz dead on his tracks from watching more of my memories and show one by myself, revealing Shibusen to him along with all the cities Soul and I went in the world.

_«Whoahh! You have trains! Underground! That's ingenious! And the cities are amazing! And… wait. Blacks are walking in the same school as whites? How? »_ Oz stares at me wide-eyed and I give in another exasperated groan at his ignorance.

Then I smirk at him, amused, _«History, boy. It's History that happened. Ya know Abraham Lincoln? President of the United States? »_ at his perplexed expression, I want to bang my head against a wall.

_«Forget it. It'll happen in not long anyways. My turn now. »_ I gently nudge Oz's soul a bit and his image flickers in front of me, a surprised expression painted across his face. The memory I've been searching shows up and reveal Alice's Chain form. Words pour in my head, like data inside an informatics system and I suddenly know what a Chain is. More and more cubes swirl around me, attracted by the black threads like the Earth is attracted by the Sun.

_«Your sin is your very existence! »_ Oz is being sunk into this world called the Abyss at his ceremony of coming of age.

_«Glen, let me present you the Chain I made a Contract with… Oz, the black rabbit. »_ Jack Vessalius again. But now that I notice it… he looks exactly like Oz!

_«This body does absolutely not belong to you. »_ this is twisted. This is sick.

My blood freezes though when I hear my own voice, though younger, cheering, _«His soul is like the night! » _and I see my little-self gazing at a curious Alice. So I did come here before, but… why? I try to look deeper in Oz's memory but straightway, I feel a throbbing pain close on my mind, sharp spikes piercing through me from the cubes.

_«Lumos! »_ Oz shrieks and the cubes instantly cease from shredding me before shooting away from me, as if my mere presence was a danger to them. I grimace while my injuries cure themselves.

_«I'm fine. It's the memories of me; I can't approach them without getting a painful headache. I wonder why... »_ I end my phrase in an ominous threat and Oz visibly gulps.

He talks hastily, looking at me intently, _«I don't know why it did that! Trust me, I can remember you perfectly. I don't even know how you came here actually. You were just there one day. »_ not sensing any lie from his soul, I decide to mull over his words and what I just saw. Even he doesn't know. Why was I in Alyss' room? Why his memories won't permit me access? Is there something hidden in here? How did even get there in the first place?

Though I don't have the time to think more as another wave of memories comes to crash down on me. Images swirl in a wild whirlwind and it's almost too much for me to take in but looking at Oz's crouched self with his hands gripping his hair, I could say that I am doing better. Chains, Trumps, Contractors, Pandora, Gilbert, Break, Mad Hatter, Sharon Rainsworth, amnesia, B-Rabbit, other dimensions, Contractor's seal, the Will of the Abyss, the Baskervilles and their leader, Glen Baskerville, it's too much, I can't even think anymore.

_«STOP RIGHT NOW! »_ I screech and as if on command, everything pauses and I fall on my knees onto the polished cubes, panting, and my hands curled into tight fists. Oz is in no better shape than me. Our souls are slowly becoming more and more inharmonious, our Resonance is fading.

_«I can't take it anymore. Let's stop here Oz. »_ pronouncing his name is a bit weird, coming from my mouth. He nods and the landscape dies away, leaving me for a few, blissful moments, unconscious. Then reality strikes me and I sit bolt upright, hardly breathing before seeing Oz groggily raise his head and sit on the cold floor. Our bodies are a glowing blue, a sign of our Resonance but it quickly dissipates in the air.

"You're back!" Alyss beams at us, a proud smile on her face and for a few seconds, I hesitate between strangling her, Maka Chop her into oblivion or just do as if she doesn't exist.

Oz takes the decision for me, "I think this is the last time I am ever doing a Soul Resonance. I thought I was going to explode!" he shakes his head as if trying to prove himself of still being alive.

"Try to do that all the time with a boy with black blood then." I mutter and he chuckles a bit before looking at Alyss again, a scowl mixed with a curious expression over his features.

He asks the question I don't dare to, "Why do this to us Alyss?" at that she laughs, a sweet kind of laugh, vacant of the insanity I felt earlier. Actually, everything is awfully quiet now, like everyone is holding their breath.

"I think Lumos knows!" she sing-songs happily and I take a bitter expression.

I say slowly at him, "I think Alyss was hoping that I would want to make a Contract with you, Oz." I stare fixedly at my white gloves, angry at myself for falling for her plans, "And she's right." I meet Oz's now serious green eyes and hold it, "I _do_ want to." I get up, my hands on my hips while I glare my best glare at him.

"Let's make a pact!" I yell at him, outstretching my hand toward him, "I want to be your Contractor and even though Alice already made a Contract with you, I don't care. I'm gonna get you out of here and I'll help you save the past and future." Oz picks my hand, though slowly and hesitantly.

"I don't want another person to get hurt because of me. You've seen enough to know that." My grip on his hand doesn't falter and I keep staring at him.

"Oh goody, welcome to the club." I smirk at him, sending him a knowing look that clearly says 'Soul nearly killed himself for me so don't you start on me!' to what he sighs.

Then he lifts his head back up, more solemn, "Then I accept the pact, Maka Albarn, Lumos. You know what's supposed to happen next." My left hand glows, a razor-sharp black and grey blade materializing from wrist. Without letting him time to react, I swiftly slice through the whole of his left forearm, dark crimson liquid spraying my blade while Alyss lets out a squeak of delight along with all the toys of the room. I have to make fight of myself to not simply punch her and shut the damn toys up.

"Hey!" Oz bellows crossly, gripping his injured arm and I smirk yet again at him.

"Well, I can't just let you change your mind." I lift my blade above my head and let the drips of blood fall into my mouth, the coppery taste engulfing it while I swallow it, trying to not let it linger too long.

Oz's body flickers before my eyes, blurring so much he becomes just a mere shadow of darkness that whirlwinds around me, spiraling closer and closer to me until the it's sucked straight into my own shadow, a pair of red eyes gleaming from within.

"What's all the show for?" I ask mockingly, eyeing his form disappearing into my shadow, "To court me?" I can feel his embarrassment.

"Not at all! It's just to add more drama!" I roll my eyes at him and the darkness is completely engulfed.

I turn to Alyss, "I don't want to destroy your room Alyss. Can I go somewhere more spacious? Please?" my voice isn't mine. It is doubled over by Oz's and I can sense his presence within me, a very odd sensation that takes a bit too much of intimate space. It's going to take some time to get used to it. Along with the fact that I shared my most intimate feelings with a complete stranger.

"Of course! And…" she sees more hesitant now, a bit shy before she meets my eyes with her lavender ones, gratitude in them, "thank you." I just nod, a bit nervous. She lifts her hands and the landscape disappears, leaving instead the black waters of the Abyss a hundred of feet below me.

Before I even touch its still surface, a bloody red scythe is summoned into my hands and I grab it, the familiar feeling of metal handle against gripping palm and fighting skills taking over me, inciting me to execute a few complicated spins of the weapon before making a slice through thin air, light blazing into my blinded eyes as it tears apart the darkness of the Abyss along with space, shredding it. I slip into the sizzling brilliant crack and adrenaline rushes through my veins as I freefall into it, the scythe disappearing from my hands.

"Hang on Oz!" I yell and I feel him nod in agreement.

Then I hear a vaguely familiar voice reach my ears, a whispering, "I wish you luck, sliver of mine." My heart is hammering against my chest while my eyes widen in shock. Who was talking to me? I can feel the name at the tip of my tongue but I just can't _grab_ on to it. How frustrating!

I hear what seem to be doors opening and a very reassuring voice yelling my name before I am projected out of this white nothingness and a pair of arms slips around my back, freezing wind blowing into my face along with the hot one from behind me, where the light is coming from. I straightaway pull off Soul who is staring at me with hysteric eyes, looking at the Baskerville's door of the Abyss close with a thundering 'boom!' Though it wasn't fast enough for me to not miss the silhouette of a girl with flowing white hair stare at me.

"Maka! You're okay?!" Soul yells at me, frantically searching with his red eyes any injury on me. I cover my mouth with my hands, pretending to cough a bit when I'm really wiping away the drops of blood I drank earlier.

"I'm fine! Don't worry about me!" I reassure him, straightening myself to prove him.

Then he makes a move toward the door, and I slap his hand away from it, yelling "Don't touch it! It's dangerous!"

He stares at me, scowling, "What do you mean? What's in there? You've been against it for a whole hour and you never answered when I tried calling you! I thought for a moment you were in a coma!" I bit my lip, repressing the urge to tell him what just happened and I opt for telling him only one part of the truth, my guts screaming to _not_ tell anybody about this.

I put on a puzzled expression and look at the door, "The second I touched it… I wasn't here anymore. I was in this strange place, it was all black and there was just endless black water… It was weird but it looks like the ruins of a city are inside and I saw some creatures in them, they weren't human, or anything terrestrial to be frank and they acted savagely, attacking each other. I saw a crack in the air, just floating there so I went straight into it and I came back here." I hear a muffled laughing in my head and I hesitate to Maka Chop Oz again. I turn to look at a still grimacing Soul.

"We can't touch this door. There is an entire world inside of it. I want to report this to Lord Death." He shakes his head while following me outside the hallway and what an hour earlier I haven't known to be the ruins of the Sablier, saying "You're sure about this? I can't help but doubt a bit about what you're saying."

I glare at him, "I'm not crazy and you know that." he sighs in a resigned way.

"Whatever you say Maka. At least you're safe. I thought I was going to have a heart attack!" he spits sarcastically and I feel a tad guilty of making him worry like that but to be honest; I don't have a single regret about what I just did. Though Oz clearly disagrees with that.

_«He may not know that but you _are_ crazy. Just making a Contract with me is insane Lumos! We don't have much time! »_ at that I grin inwardly.

_«First of all, my real name is Maka though I don't mind Lumos either. Second of all, you clearly haven't seen the craziest about me, that's for sure! Welcome to the freak show Nox! »_

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><p><strong>So this is how the infamous Lumos and Nox met! Also, don't be surprised by Oz' hum... <em>insulting<em> comment about gays. He's from what? The 19th century right? It's normal he thinks like that (sadly). I would have liked to add more stuff but then again, my chapter would have probably hit the 6 000 words if I did, "_" Ah well, I'll just have to wait until I can write a real novel to do it! What did you think of this chapie? I'm just at the beginning of my story so I want to know what YOU think about it! In any ways, thanks a bunch for reading my story, you're all wonderful for that!**

**Well, that's it for me then, on this note, Aurevoir and Auf Wedersien!**


	5. Of date spies and investigators

**Here you go, chapter 5! Though, I keep having this feeling that this is a boring chapter *bangs my head against a wall in shame* Anyhow, you could look at it from another angle. It's certainly is more lighter and humoristic than the other chapters. Still sorry for the dullness though! And the fact that I didn't post anything last week. *gets stabbed***

**Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater or Pandora Hearts. **

**Well, what are you waiting for? Geronimo!**

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><p>Chapter 5: Of date spies and investigators<p>

Oz's PoV

"I was wondering if you would arrive Kid! What took you so long?" she asks in curiosity, her emerald green eyes glittering like stars.

"Liz really wanted me to change into a more_ 'appropriate attire to this special moment'_ as she said it." He says with a roll of his golden eyes, scoffing while she chuckle.

"Well it's not like anybody can fight her fashion side."

"More like fashion disease if you ask me."

Both Soul and I are behind the sofa of Maka's apartment, peering at Maka and Kid at the entrance chatting away with big goofy smiles, glaring at the duo with as much hatred and death vibes as possible, hoping with all our hearts that they can sense it.

"Hunting rifle lock and loaded, ready to fire, sir." I growl under my breath at Soul who nods satisfyingly at the weapon in my hands.

"Grenade equipped, prepared to launch at target. Waiting for attack." He answers back at me and I adjust my grip on the rifle.

"Should we use later on flying missiles on our aim, sir? It would enable him to move some more." I grunt, still watching the two laugh and joke around as if we're not plotting one of their deaths.

Soul retorts, his ruby eyes still glued to Kid and Maka, "Useless, it would be better for defense." His fingers are twirling a sharp hunting knife that has materialized out of nowhere but I know better than to ask how he got it.

Then he seems thoughtful, tapping his chin like a detective would, "Although, I'd say it would a good separation to use that flamethrower you bought." I try not too much to squeal in delight and pull out said artillery from its hiding place, grinning from ear to ear.

Kid leans to her and whispers something inaudible at her ear while we both stiffen our weapons at ready. But being a Chain and so, a supernatural creature, I have a better hearing than anybody else's, meaning I can hear clear as day what he's saying. And Maka's cheeks are turning bright pink.

"It would be nice if we could have a bit more alone time together, without any disturbance watching us. It is a date after all." I can swear on Gil's hat that there was more under his words than what he's currently saying. To say the least, I'm irked up. Before I could gunshot the damn Reaper into oblivion though, Soul squeezes my shoulder to remind me that I'm not the only one who is boiling angry and that we're in the same boat. Well, almost.

"Well then, I'll make a warning sign to you; let me remind you that I could castrate you with a spoon if you try anything." Both Soul and I are lying on the floor, our weapons abandoned while we're silently laughing our butts off at Kid staring wide eyed at a smirking Maka, her hands on her hips in a defying way.

I make a 'perfect' sign with my fingers and Soul shakily nods in agreement while tears corner his eyes. I look over my shoulder to where Maka is to see Kid sigh exasperated at the blond, his cheeks flushed red. Both of them are dressed up in elegant attire and though it's still really weird to see how fashion evaluated with time to come to these… these _thin and skinny clothing_, both Kid and Maka still look great in their respective smoking (as they call those anyways).

Surprisingly, Maka looks very pretty with her hair let down and dressed in these men apparel and Kid looks _way too seductive_ for my taste. Or rather, for Maka's sake. Oh yes, the damn boy asked her on a date. In front of everybody, this including me and Soul. We didn't take it well. So Kid may as well prepare himself for a _very_ slow and _very_ painful death.

"Okay…" Kid mutters embarrassingly, his cheeks flushed red, "Can we, um, kinda skip the awkward moment and go?" he shuffles on his feet nervously, like a little schoolboy. So it's the shy boy tactic, huh? Not getting away with that, oh no you won't.

"I would like to buuutttt…." Maka stretches the last word, keeping the suspense up before she suddenly adds in a yelling, "I have two boys on my back with artillery on their hands, which are planning your near death and it would be really nice if they could just _let. Me. Go._" We both groan loudly under her glare, still grasping the weapons as if we are cradling a baby.

"Let you go with _him?_ Without safety guards? You're kidding yourself!" Soul snorts at Maka who sends as much anger through her eyes at us as possible. So she did sense our death vibes. That's nice.

"Sorry but if wanna get him, you'll have to move past us first." I get this sudden feeling Soul just set a ticking bomb on zero.

_"Makaaaa CHOP!"_ Okay, even for a Chain having just one free night, that hurts _sooo much._

"NOOO!" I screech in grief at the broken weapon before me, "My flamethrower! Oh, why did you do this to my precious?! Do you know how much that cost?!" Soul pats me on my back while I weep the object's death by thick encyclopedia book.

"I told you Oz, no artillery! Same thing goes for you, Soul!" Maka reprimands us, pointing an angry finger at us while Kid behind her facepalms, mouthing us, 'I told you not to show them to her.'

Maka makes a move toward then stops, her back to us, "Soul that includes the bazooka." I glare at him and Soul sends me a sheepish look.

"Oh come on! Did you see what this thing can do?!" he whines and Maka starts tapping her foot rapidly on the ground, waiting.

_"Soul."_ She growls and we both gulp.

It's my turn to pat his back reassuringly while the boy gives in a cry of anguish at the sudden book shooting and breaking the armament in half. At least there were no explosion.

"Oh, why?! Why break such a beauty?! It had made so many achievements and would have gone far in life." he cries out solemnly while shaking his head in sorrow while I am still rubbing his back.

"It fought valiantly our cause. We shall never forget the number of times it oppressed every boys that had tried with all their might to steal your Meister's heart." Geez, now I speak like Break. Oops, wrong thought.

_Don't think of what hurts_, I tell myself.

Maka doesn't seem over with us though. "Throw the grenades away Soul."

"Why should I? I should keep them instead for precautions; I'm so not letting you out of my sight with the creep!"

"Hey! I'm here you know!" shouts the interested.

"Throw them away. Or else." With Maka, 'or else' never means good.

"Or else what? You're going to recite me the definition of 'grenade' to me?" Soul scoffs.

"No. If you don't throw them out, I'm gonna make-out with Kid right at your face."

_"WHAT?! YOU WOULDN'T!"_ we screech at the top of our lungs, horrified. Yet Maka is already toward Kid, pulling his stunned form toward her with a smirk on her face while I shoot a death glare at Soul.

Immediately we snatch the grenades out of a backpack where Soul kept them for the time being (well, until we could blow Kid's head up) and we threw some of them by the window, hearing large explosions and smoke drifting up while we whistle innocently.

"Tsk, boys." Maka mutters while shaking her head before following Kid outside, adding in a louder voice, "Now I'm off! And don't forget to _not_ stalk me off! And the panzerfaust stays in the basement!" the door slams shut and like every sane man who watches his-almost-little-sister-slash-past-friend-slash-Contractor leave at the arm of boy who had made an almost pervy comment earlier, we still follow the two outside, the cool air a good change from the hot humid day (still not used to it). And like every cautious man, we _did_ bring the panzerfaust out with us.

I look over at the night sky to meet the moon's eerie gaze on me, as if laughing down only at me and at my fate. It wouldn't surprise if it did. There were so many twists in my life that I could as well receive the price of 'Plot Twists in Life' or 'Most Wanted Chain' and that the moon has decided to humor me by revealing that it's actually a Chain and can take this creepy shape. I never asked.

We move as silently as foes after Kid and Maka's trace, careful to stay a good distance from Maka's permanent Soul Perception radius but close enough to watch them from afar. As recluse as I was before my ceremony of coming-of-age, I never did this kind of thing, spying a date and it's a bit exciting. I keep thinking that something will happen and I guess by how on edge Soul is too, he thinks the same.

Kid seems constantly nervous, as if he can sense that we're peeking into him and Maka. I guess you can blame that on first dates, it's normal. But what I'm really looking are the buildings. I don't come from this timeline so I keep letting my gaze wonder over the city's architecture, its buildings stacked on each other like toys and how hectic they are. Here could be a market and right next to it could be what Soul calls a 'video game store', full of odd technologic stuff that are way too complicated for me to understand and there, there would be a boutique for dark occults, which I find stranger since meisters and their weapons normally hate anything magic-related.

"Like the city view Oz?" Soul asked me not long ago while we were eating 'french fries', which by the way, tastes great even with all the salt. I simply nod in response, not sure what to say else so much I am absorbed by it. He chuckled.

Though my energy quickly dies down when I start getting bored of watching Maka and Kid speak from afar, everything getting dull at some point. I even start wanting to go back to the forbidden books I am not allowed to read concerning odd events that had happened in the past three centuries in England, where I would search anything Abyss-related.

"I feel like this is getting boring." I finish by grumbling at Soul when we walk through the streets, grenades still in his satchel. That backpack wasn't our only hiding spot; we were smart enough to hide some elsewhere.

He gives me an eyeful before suddenly grabbing my wrist and tugging me closer to where Kid and Maka are, sitting in a bench listening to a small group of musicians playing in a park, other people clustering in, further away.

"Then let's raise the stakes then and try to listen what they have to say." He tells me with a smirk and I follow him, curious and worried. Curious because I would like to know too what they are talking about and worried since the more time I waste here, the more is wasted to save the past and future and the more timequakes there are, meaning more people disappearing. The latter is starting to win over my mind. But still, it feels nice to have a little break from all this hell.

We shuffle a bit through the people until we reach the abandoned warehouse directly behind where Maka is. As close as we can get to hear them talk, we move under a broken window, its broken shards still glistening on the cemented floor, our feet stepping on them when we march as quietly as possible to listen in from under the window. We catch words drifting to us. They seem to be on heavy discussion.

"… about Oz?" my ears perk up at my name and I glance sideways to see Soul smirking at me, whispering a "Yahtzee." at me. No idea what that means.

"It's just that lately you have been, well… distant. You've been so secretive with him and you have stayed longer than usual at the library. I wanted to ask you in private about why, without anybody bothering us. I can keep a secret." Kid says and I can easily imagine him having a staring contest with Maka. I suddenly feel as if I am being glared at.

_«Oz, I know you're here. » _I mentally sigh at that.

_«Is my soul that obvious? »_ I mentally ask her, even though I already know the answer and am mentally slapping myself for thinking she wouldn't notice me.

"I don't see the problem with staying longer than usual at the library and Oz is kind of a bookworm too." Maka says to Kid, a tone of reproachfulness in her voice.

Cerebrally though, she is snorting me an _«Of course I can, moron! You're my Contractor, our souls are constantly linked, and it's kind of like being a human GPS really. Both of us know will always know where the other is. »_ I am a bit surprised by that bit of information. That must explain why I was able to easily find Alice – or rather her corpse – in Cheshire's dimension.

Kid gives a groan, "It's not that, it's your attitude that's been worrying me. You've been very cold toward us and whenever we've asked where Oz comes from or how you two met, you either whack us or plain ignore the question. Why is that?" I can feel Soul's red gaze piercing through me and I try to look nonchalant.

Instead of asking what I have in mind, I blurt out a _«What is GPS? Is it like magic? » _I instantly sense a feeling that could compared to the desire to bang my head against a wall and I straightway know that's what Maka is feeling. Hey, I don't know a single thing about this world; don't blame me for not knowing what it is.

_«Forget it. You can say that if something bad would happen to me, you would know exactly where I am and how seriously injured I could be just by increasing the Resonance. So yeah, I know you're behind me and I know you're with Soul. »_ the idea of someone able to look into my very essence and know where I am makes me a bit uneasy. And yet I still did it with Maka. All these memories she lend me about her skills and the knowledge she acquired at the Academy still haven't completely processed in my mind so thinking about this 'Resonance' is strange. As if I am in a completely different planet, which in some ways, I am.

"There is nothing to say," Maka answers Kid calmly, "I don't know where Oz is from and I am not going to push his buttons to know that. And to be honest, the way we met doesn't exactly concern any of you. It's a promise I keep to be secret. An embarrassing one actually." I can effortlessly picture Maka looking away from Kid, a sheepish expression covering her lies. I hate the fact that she has to actually _lie to her friends_ to protect me.

"Then why not tell us that when we asked you? You never revealed us anything." Kid's tone seems a bit like of someone who's pouting.

"Imagine how Liz, Patty, Soul and BlackStar would react if I answer them that. Liz and BlackStar would die to know what this secret is, Patty would probably beat the answer out of me and Soul… well, he's my Weapon, my partner. He always wishes to protect me and would certainly want to know why I can't even tell _him_ this secret. You would try too to suck the answer out of me. You don't like being kept in the dark and you always want the whole truth, don't you?" Ah. So that's why she told me to shut my mouth and not even tell lies. Smart move Maka.

I hear some shuffling next to me and I glance over to see Soul shaking his head with a smirk, gazing out in the window with what looks to be a pleased expression mixed with surprise.

_He is pleased to know that Maka knows him that well but he is also surprised. _I think, observing him quietly. Mostly his red eyes. I feel really bad for him.

_«Maka, this might be pushing a bit for you but you _do_ know that Soul is ~ » _she interrupts my thoughts by finishing it.

_« ~is a child of misfortune? I know, your memories told me all about it. And no, before you ask, he never provoked any 'misfortune' to his family before. Actually, he comes from rich talented musicians and it was him who left, not them but since I respect his privacy, you're not getting your answer as to why. »_ I mentally roll my eyes. It's not been that long since our Contract, yet she still knows what I was about to say as if she has known me for years.

She's a little like Alice. Her cheery smile, her hot-tempered attitude, her feral protectiveness to those she cares about, her determination, hell, even her skills when wielding Soul in scythe form is like Alice's. I can also see Alyss in Maka when she acts so tenderly toward Crona, her desire to help others when in need and to do what is right for everybody, despite her own desires. It hurts to see the brunette within Maka in so many aspects without never really being with her, the girl who was ready to sacrifice her own life for me. It hurts but I don't want anybody to worry about it or ask questions so I keep it down and wait to deal with it later. I always for when this is all over to let everything I've been holding back to flood out of me.

Kid chuckles lightly next to her, "You know us too well, that's for sure. But still, I have to ask you; you can feel it, can't you? There's something abnormal about Oz and I know you can feel it in his soul. It looks human when you just glance at it but looking up close… it looks almost _not._ There is something ethereal about it. It's like there is a creature hidden further inside of it. I know _you_ know about it, and you keep hanging around him instead of us. You know more about him than we do. So I'll ask you only once: What's wrong with him?"

_«Well, since you're still _spying_ on us, let me comment on this by saying I am not so surprised by the question. » _Maka's voice comes in to my head, slightly annoyed by my intrusion.

Another lie, "I can sense it, don't worry you're not going crazy. I hadn't asked him though. He looks incredibly human to me and I stick up to him because of those odd wavelengths; I want to know if _he_ knows about his soul and if he does, if he's up to something." Another sigh from Kid. I got to say, Maka is good at lying. Next to me, I sense Soul and his eyes watch over me like hawk eyes. I pretend to be slightly confused and look at him with bewildered eyes, as if asking the question 'Did you knew about this?' to him. He shakes his head.

"Why go so much to the library then? What book does he look over at Maka? What do they have like subject?" I get this impression that I am assisting more to an interrogation then a simple discussion.

"He looks over the books he wants and why am I not telling you? Because it's related to that secret and try as you might, you'll get nothing out of me." It almost looks like there is a threat under her words and I shudder a little at that and I can feel Kid's frustration reach me like a wall of fire.

"Maka, it's important that you tell me all you know about him." First, it was Maka who had that low growl in her tone, now it's Kid who has that menacing aura around him.

"Things are getting creepy, or is it me?" I whisper to Soul and he hushes me into silence.

"And why should I? You wouldn't diverge a promise a dear friend of yours made you keep, would you?" comes Maka's reply from the window and my legs start to throb in ache from staying too long bent.

"No, but I would if it depends on my life as well as other's." I can feel Soul stiffen at the same time as I do and we both look at each other, a silent comprehension going about between us.

_Maka's in danger, we need to protect her,_ is the thought mutually shared. For both of us, we are used to that almost insane desire to protect a person in particular. Me for Alice and Soul for Maka.

"What do you mean?" Maka asks with seriousness, and the image of her staring intently in Kid's eyes comes into view in my mind.

"I only learned this not long ago, only a few days actually by my father's word. The Death Scythes are on edge because of that and we search every corner of the Academy to verify if there are spies over here. And since Oz has quite the strange soul and goes more than anybody else to the library, searching books in particular, I was wondering if he could have anything to do with the current situation." Suspicion flashes in a matter of a heartbeat over Soul's eyes and I frown in real confusion.

_What is Kid talking about? Spies? What's going on?_ My mind is spinning radically.

"Would you care to explain? I don't get it. What does this have to do with me?" Maka asks dubiously.

"Would you know a certain group of people lead by a person named Noah?" Kid inquires and after a short silence that equals a 'no' from Maka, he continues, "They have attacked meisters and their weapons in this region of the country, Kim, Kilik and the others to be more precise. We didn't get why until they came back. And from they have managed to decipher and what we've gathered, Ox says that all of it has to do with you, Maka."

"They have attacked people you know, to search something about you, your whereabouts and who you frequent. Those are the questions they've asked, along with other nonsense none of us get yet. We want to know if they've sent spies inside the school and there is a risk it could be Oz, with his behavior." I feel my blood freeze inside of me and my emotions must be showing on my face because Soul shoots me a pointed look.

I hear Kid take a deep sigh before going on. He must have waited a while before cornering Maka alone to tell her all this.

"For some reason Maka, Noah's target is you."

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><p><strong>Why are you all looking at me like that?! OF COURSE NOAH SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN THE STORY. *pouts* I'm just so <em>saddened<em> by the fact that nobody who broadcasted Soul Eater in anime version had the brilliant idea of actually FOLLOWING THE MANGA PLOT. So I'm going to add some, in my own style, which includes Pandora Heart material! Yay me! Anyways, what do you think of the way Oz sees Maka? Cute, eh? The overprotective, hilarious brother who will kill any boy that is on his little sister's way. Sad how I don't have that kind of brother. *annoyed face***

**Well, that's it for me then, on this note, Aurevoir and Auf Wedersien!**


	6. Soaring into reminiscences

**And done! Since I've been getting a lack of inspiration for my other crossover, I decided to update on this one! Definitely less boring than last one, that's a promise and the 'Rabbit Curse' amv kinda got me inspired for a few scenes in this chapter (along with future ones). You should go watch it. SHOULD. doesn't mean you will. ANYWAYS, on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater or Pandora Hearts. **

**Well, what are you waiting for? Geronimo!**

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><p>Chapter 6: Soaring into reminiscences<p>

Maka's PoV

How are you doing? Me? Oh you know, trying to not get assassinated.

It's not that hard to understand the notion that someone is chasing you down to killroad in the DWMA. We're trained people in the EAT class, we know that feeling and are ready for it. We have been educated to understand that people will want us dead for lots of reasons, the main one being because we killed their subordinates of Pre-Kishins, that being enough to send their minions to do the dirty job of murdering us. Still, I was not prepared to feel this pang against my chest whenever I think about Noah wanting me dead.

I don't even know this person. Noah could be a girl for all I know and it would still not ring a bell to me. Why does he want to kill me so badly? Even Lord Death doesn't know. Have I stopped hanging around Oz because of Kid's words? Oh _hell to the no!_ There is no way anybody is _ever_ going to tear me apart from him and on the contrary, I've been more protective over him than ever, not letting him off my sight for one second. Literally. Death, he is actually living with me! We don't have much room in the apartment, with Soul living in too along with Blair – even though she's a cat – but he still managed to find an unused mattress and sleep in the living room on it. Poor boy, he is Blair's new toy now.

But back to the subject, being the fact that I don't get what I could have done to get Noah chasing after me. The only thing that could spring my mind to life would be the time the attacks started happening. A little by one month and a half. The very moment where Oz became my Chain. I can't help but wonder…

_Could they be trying to actually reach Oz through me?_

But how could they know that Oz is _my_ Chain? How could they know what had transpired in the Abyss when Oz and I shared memories and secrets? Honestly, the theory of a spy in the Academy starts to make a bit more sense now to me but no way am I letting anyone even as so touch a hair of Oz's. He's already suffered enough as it has. Crona too is on the list of suspects but he looks so depressed that Lord Death decided to let him off the hook, as well as because he proved himself when going after his own mother and nearly dying by her hand. That part keeps giving me nightmares. Speaking of the devil…

_"Who are you?"_

_"I am you. And you are me." I can't see her eyes but next to that, her silhouette seems familiar to me, every curve of it, its slim and bit slender shape like the back of my pocket. It's me but at the same time not._

_"Why are you here?"_

_"Because your dreams reflect what you feel on the inside. And what you're trying to repress at the back of your mind."_

_"What does that mean?"_

_"That you have no one else in the world but yourself. Like always."_

_"I always feel so lonely…" _

_"Because you've already felt it before. Endlessly and forever."_

_"Stop dying for me, stop suffering for me, I don't deserve it. I shouldn't even exist."_

_"You don't and yet, nobody will stop to heed your pleads. That's the cold truth."_

_"FREE ME THEN! DESTROY ME!" _

A shiver runs up my spine and I shudder. These questions and cryptic answers, always asked and answered by myself, keep spinning in my mind like a hurricane when I am dreaming at night. They are hurled at me in my sleep, I don't know why though. I just know that whoever is answering the questions is not me, that voice holding some kind of… detached coldness, familiar to me because I would use that tone whenever I would go on a hunt from time to time with Soul but where I can't put my finger on this _other_ familiarity. Very contradicting.

"Maka?" I blink out of my thoughts to see Soul and Oz's pair of green and red eyes staring back at me curiously, at the entrance of the house.

"You coming or are you planning to mull over all day?" Soul asks me and I glare at him before following them toward school.

_«Are you feeling fine? You looked bothered by something. »_ Oz's voice comes into my head.

_«Don't fret yourself, Oz. I'm okay. »_ I lie back at him. Of course, I know that he doesn't believe a single word of it.

"Grigori what?" both Soul and Oz echo at Marie, staring wide eyed at her. I roll my eyes at them.

"It's called a Grigori soul, morons. That's the shape of my soul." I scoff at their puzzled expressions before sighing, wanting to slap myself at their ignorance.

Miss Marie takes it from here. "A Grigori soul is a soul that holds the shape of an angel because of the wings it holds. It's a very rare type of soul; only one in about fifty million has one, Maka is very lucky to have one, plus her Anti-Demon Wavelength in bonus. And that doesn't include her powerful Soul Perception. Our little angel here," she motions her hand to me, to whom I grin widely and proudly, "will definitely become a great Death Weapon meister, now that Soul detains Medusa's witch heart. With Maka's shape of essence and Soul's now almost magical abilities, you two can now learn how to grow wings on the scythe and learn how to fly. You now have a lot of training in front of you." We both nod, Soul lazily and me almost too eagerly for my own good, which equals mental laughter from Oz.

Oz frowns a little on the outside though, "How can Soul grow wings? If it's almost but not magic, how can he make it to do such a thing with Maka's soul?" I feel almost sad for Oz's hopeless case of lack of knowledge of the world around him.

"It's all about wavelength control." Miss Marie answers to him, "Usually, for a normal Demon Weapon, they can control a soul wavelength by mostly passing it between the meister and themselves, increasing it until creating a powerful wavelength none of them can produce which equals a powerful attack, taking the Witch Hunter for a scythe for example." Oz nods thoughtfully, registering her words before speaking his thoughts.

"So, becoming a Death Weapon means a greater wavelength control." It is more a statement than a question, "Using that ability, Soul can now simply Resonate and use Maka's shape of soul to produce a physical form, wings case in point." I'm a bit impressed by Oz's capacity to understand everything so quickly and easily.

"Exactly! My, are you the smart boy!" Miss Marie compliments him and he grins at her, a smile typical of a flirtatious boy. The worst is that it works, seeing as Marie lets a faint blush appear on her face before my damn dad barges in.

A few explanations later about Spirit's presence in here – and having to re-explain all over again Oz's presence too, being that it's training class today and that he doesn't have much to do except hang out with me for the moment, without causing the latter's wrath and forcing him to cause havoc for no reason – I stand in the exterior training area with Soul clutched into my hands, his design slightly different from before. Scrap that, _very_ different from before.

The blade is now black and midnight violet, its zig-zags stopping at the middle before descending into a simple stripe. The handle is now equally black and slightly bent over, and the carvings around Soul's single red eyes has changed for small sharp, almost bone-like figures around it, a new and smaller blade then the main one curving up at the other side of the handle, completely black and having the look of a hooked claw. Not at all an angelic scythe. I slam it down on the ground.

"Remember Kim and Jackie's demonstration? You two think of that, think about flying and the wings you would like to produce. Try it my little angel." Miss Marie encourages us and I feel fuzzy at the word 'angel' crossing my mind.

"Soul Resonance!" both Soul and I shout for emphasize and bluish light engulfs us, both of us focused on the main task of harmonizing together, on how our souls must communicate together like synchronizing heartbeats, on producing a symphony of angels and fluttering wings. Soul's strength along with my own swirls all around me, our minds singularly focused on the image of feathers, of wings beating like a soul, on the sensation of flying. Only and sadly, something unexpectedly occurs.

I feel like all the blood is abruptly pounding against my ears, rushing into them, my heartbeat so loud and frantic I almost expect everybody to hear it as sudden and throbbing ache explodes on my chest, stinging and harsh. It hammers against my chest so hard, I give in a loud gasp and my legs start buckling under me, my will only keeping me in balance.

_No, no, no! Not now, not in front of everybody! This is the worst timing for it to appear, I was sure it wouldn't appear this time! It's been a week!_ I think desperately, willing it to vanish even though I'm conscious it just doesn't listen at my every command.

Apparently, Oz feels it too as his eyes suddenly widen and he clenches his chest too, staring at me with green eyes slowly and gradually turning red. And the worst is I know my own are turning crimson too, since my connection is more powerful with Oz than Alice's is. By that, it means the Soul Resonance, not my past. I mustn't look at anybody; I have to let my hair hide my eyes. I feel like I am being burned by iron, being marked by it, branded by it, as if I am being distinct for fated. Fated to what? To be swallowed by the power of the Abyss.

"Maka? Maka!" I barely hear the faint whispers of Soul's voice, screaming at me, "Your soul wavelengths are going totally haywire! What's going – your eyes! They're red!" Crap, forgot Soul can watch me from his scythe. And that we're still Resonating. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Ignore it. I have to ignore that burning feeling, concentrate on producing wings. Right now, everybody who are observing me are probably thinking it's just me having a hard time creating wings, not that my Contract's seal is burning over my heart, not that its power is trying to flood all over me and drown me like it momentarily did to Oz once. I close my eyes.

_Wings, wings, give me angel wings, angel wings…._

_«Wings, wings, wings, give her wings to fly with, flying wings, wings… »_ Oz's voice echoes in my head, helping me out on focusing on this thought and not on the fact that my chest is throbbing agonizingly more and more…

Suddenly, I feel light and airy, my feet barely grazing the cobblestone as I elevate myself on my scythe higher and higher, the sound of flapping feathers reaching me. I let my eyes open up a little, peeking behind myself. At the very same time, I feel the seal's clock advance and it's as if my head is being spilt in two.

I scream silently, mentally and my teeth violently clamp on my tongue to repress from expressing my pain vocally, tasting metallic blood on the passage. My eyes water and they sting, ready to spill pained tears but they keep gazing though at the new born wings radiating behind me.

Black and red meddle together in an uncanny mix. The wings are mostly dark ebony black but the feathers, at each tip of them, shimmers light touches of dark crimson and stormy navy blue, glimmering like a prism at the kiss of the sunny light, as if they were not made of feathers but glass. They look like the wings of a beautiful angel. A fallen angel.

I know that if it weren't for the seal and Oz's powerful influence, those wings would not be at the present moment. Clapping hands momentarily snap me out of my thoughts and despite the pain I'm desperate to hide out of my features, I still glance through my hair at Marie, Spirit and Oz looking up at me in awe, their eyes wide and stunned. Oz is behind Marie and my – ahem – father, his eyes a bright crimson. I slightly gulp.

"Wow, that's some wings you got Maka!" Spirit jeers proudly and I promptly 'humpf!' at him and veer my gaze to Marie's and Oz's.

Marie looks as happy as Spirit, "That's a great beginning Maka! You seem to have gotten quite some difficulty back here for a moment but it looks like everything had worked quite smoothly. That's a great job!" I slightly smile at her but stay cautious at keeping my hair over my eyes. Oz sends me a thumb up from behind them.

_«Does it still hurt? »_

_«Hell to the yes! Feels only like my heart is burning thank you very much! »_ I snort at Oz mentally, gritting my teeth to stay focused on the wings fluttering behind me and not on the now constant burning sensation.

High in the sky of dusk Soul and I soar to, Spirit and Marie having left us on independent training an hour ago or so. Kim and Jackie had joined in for a bit to show me the pattern we needed to take while flying, to accustom ourselves to it and for me to remember the path to take to practice ourselves at speed flying. So far, so good. I just only dropped to the ground four times, all of them for lack of focus on the main task. Hey, blame it on Soul, he keeps bugging me.

Speaking of the devil, he harassed me non-stop over my crimson red eyes, bombarding me of questions about what happened and why I was in such pain. For the red eyes, I gave him a confused glance, telling him that I have no idea what in the holy hell he was talking about. For my seal though, I bluntly ignored the question and kept on with the flying procedure, cursing him from distracting me from our task.

_«Are you sure it keeps hurting you? »_ the question catches me off guard and I send Oz my confusion, _«It's just that it never hurt me that long before, it only lasted a few minutes. »_ I scowl at the question but I don't have time to think about it before wind along with adrenaline rushes into me as I start dropping to the ground. My blood pounds yet again into my ears and my breathing speeds up.

This time, I can't keep it at bay. It hurts too much. I feel like I'm burning alive and chomping my tongue down doesn't keep me from letting out a pained screech, Soul immediately alerted by my woe.

"Will you just tell me what's going on, Maka?!" he shouts venomously at me and my jaw clenches, feeling like my brain might pop out of my skull and my heart out of my ribcage.

_«Maka! »_ Oz's panicked voice calls into my mind and the sudden sensation of floating abruptly replaces my agony. Along with the sudden change of the whole scenery around me.

The fiery toned sky, the school standing proudly, the pillars marked with numbers for guidance while flying, the city below, everything is gone. For a while I'm just floating in the middle of a world between worlds, my ruby gaze wondering about the pure darkness, no ups, no downs, no right, and no left and only emptiness filling me up to the core. I barely hear Soul's surprised voice. Oz's voice though doesn't reach me.

"Wha…? Where are we?!"

As quickly as it came, the inky blackness of vast space around me is altered again, like a computer screen glitching, the shadow of colors starting to mirage all around me. I'm now standing somewhere else, my feet definitely touching ground. I know this place.

I'm back in Alyss' room.

_What's going on?_ Is the thought probably shared by both Soul and I. Though the question is barely loud enough to cover all the voices suddenly screaming into my head, screeches of anguish, despair, sadness, anger and horror. I let out one of my own, my fingers clawing at my hair and head, panting. An arm swings around my shoulders and I feel myself being lifted, my head lolling on Soul's shoulder and the rest of body sagging into him, him helping me walk forward despite the loud ringing and screaming in my head.

"Come on Maka. We need to find a way out of this place." Soul prompts me and I nod shakily, my nails still digging further in my head. I know I'm the only one who can hear them, otherwise Soul would have been in the same mess as I am.

**_"Alyss!"_** I hear a voice say and both Soul and I freeze on the spot, because… because…

It's my own voice.

We both veer around to see my own self staring intently into Alyss' amethyst eyes, something like a mix of worry and outrage showing on my face. And unlike last time I saw myself here, I'm not in the form of my past child. We both look exactly alike, only for a few differences, stating with the clothing. The other me is wearing a black tailcoat, the ends spilt in two and reaching mid-legs and a black lace is fastened around my neck, a white button-up shirt under it. Down I wear dark blue jeans and buckled iron-colored boots reaching my knees. And my hair a stark white. Other than that, I'm staring at my exact clone.

_"I'm done listening to you!" Alyss yells back at her, something like desperation shining in her eyes, "You keep ordering me like, like some sick puppy! I can do well on my own! I don't need or want your help!"_ the voices start ringing louder in my head and I feel Soul catch me before I fall.

The other me seems a bit hurt, but like the stubborn person I am, she keeps going, shouting in return, **_"He doesn't wants _you_! He wants all the power we detain! Jack wants to use you and you know it! He wants to use Oz!" _**I don't seem outraged because of Alyss' anger, it's more like I – _she_ is confused by the fact Alyss doesn't understand my meaning. Though the word _Jack_ wells a surge of hatred inside of me and I don't care about my odd coldness. All I know is that if it's about Jack, I know it doesn't mean good. This is obviously from before the Tragedy of Sablier.

_"Leave me alone already! Stop saying such nasty lies to me! I want to go out in world with my beloved and you won't stop me!"_

**_"You can't see what he's doing to you? He wants you isolated to better use you and you're not even talking to Alice anymore because of him. He won't hesitate to hurt her to get to you and you'll never know. Or care." _**

_"SHUT UP! LEAVE ME ALONE!" _what happens next surprises me and Soul so much I can't determine who's the most stunned of us two. The other me looks into my direction, straight into my eyes with her own intense green gaze.

**_"Don't let her leave. Jack's mad so stop her."_**almost like a possessed zombie, I slip away from Soul's grasp who follows me and slowly walk toward Alyss who in turn, advances toward the spiralling stairs, fuming, where I know she'll descend down to go and meet Alice and take over her body.

**_"Alyss, don't go."_** Every voice of the whole wide world engulf my head, every voice from the present, past and future and I can't hear anybody anymore, just reach my hand out for Alyss, just see the white light blasting from it and her veering to look at me with tearful eyes, her mouth wide open as if yelling something but I don't hear anything. I just want the voices and Alyss to stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. In the haze of all the screams, I manage to have a thought of my own.

_How can a memory see me?_

_What am _I_ doing there?_

The light is brilliant, it surrounds everything, drowns everything in itself, until I am blinded by it though not before I meet my own piercing glowing green eyes' gaze. The sound of shattering glass, of broken mirror exploding all around me, breaking the light in cracks of vibrant darkness, arms rounding my waist and pulling me away from Alyss, falling, falling, falling into the rabbit's hole…

**_«Are you afraid? »_** my lungs are constricted, I can`t scream, my throat is dry and arid like the desert. I can't scream, I don't know why I am so terrified.

**_«Good, you should be. After all, you are scared of me and I am you. »_** the light turns black, turn to dark, burning flames licking me, the whisper reverberating all over me, into my entire being. Scorching heat. I am scorching everyone with my dark flames. Through them I can see myself, a cold grin on my face, not like the me of before. I am afraid of myself.

**_«Pull me out…»_** a shadowy murmur hold by my voice, terrifyingly cryptic.

Then, as quick as it came, everything is back to normal again. Well, almost everything. For example, Soul and I are lying on top of each other on the spinning ground, groaning. Or it's me who's getting dizzy and am thinking the ground is twirling when I'm actually getting nausea. Except that, the world is back again, the school, the city, the sky that turned to night by now, everything. Only…

_"GET AWAY NOW!"_ I scream at Soul who instantly understands the message and rolls over him, both of us barely evading the bullets-like shots being thrown at us. I grimace at the grazing I received from them and look over to see the weapons, being… black feathers?

"Tsk, they just keep coming." Soul sneers and then glares at me, not really surprisingly though, "We're going to have a serious conversation after this Maka. You've got a lot of explaining to do." I grumble a 'whatever' at him and dash at his direction and a second later, my hands are clutching a scythe on airborne, us speeding across the training area, evading the sharp feathers.

"Show yourself coward!" I yell at the sky, tone slightly trembling from what I just lived and not even a second later does an obscure silhouette reveals itself at the top of one of the rocky pillars, the moon cackling behind it. The seal had stopped hurting a while before and so had the voices, to my large relief. I'll be able to better concentrate.

The silhouette approaches me and I notice something odd about it. The wings reattached to their hands, a midnight violet filled with symbols and markings. And the familiar feeling of, well just _something_ closing in on us and hovering over the person looming over me. I glare at them. Whoever it is that's over me, that person made a Contract with a Chain.

_«Oz. »_

_«You're back! I was really worried for you! Have you…? »_ I know what the hidden question under it is and fully intend to tell Oz about it. But not now. I am too troubled by what just happened.

_«Yes, but that's for later. Just get ready. »_ I answer back to him, anxiety filling the emptiness, fear and loneliness of before. Along with my fiery temper.

_«Got it. »_ the person lifts their head to gaze at me with ringed purple eyes, their gaze filled with cold murder-intent, their short black hair blowing into the wind.

"Maka Albarn, the mirror of herself. B-Rabbit, the Chain that nearly destroyed the world. It's time for you to die." Cold, cold voice. Emotionless and soul filled with black magic. The unearthly feeling of shadows casted all over the boy, the shades of a Chain.

"Accept your fate and let your souls fade into the book of Eibon."

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><p><strong>The mirror of herself? Ooohhhh, what does <em>that<em> mean? I think all of you guessed who the person attacking Maka is (for you manga people anyways)! Oh, and what do you think of the memory you've all just assisted? What in the bloody hell is going on with Maka?! Heh. Everything in its time people! Until then... *creepy grin* Guess you'll have to wait~! *evades flying tomatoes and escapes angry mob* **

**Well, that's it for me then, on this note, farewell!**


	7. Fever Rush

**Well, you've been waiting for this! Sorry for the little lateness, I've been bugging since the last day of school before winter break (*celebration dance* I can write more now! Wahooo! Bring out the liquor...! Uuuh, ahem.) but I got better so, here you go!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater or Pandora Hearts. **

**Well, what are you waiting for? Geronimo!**

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><p>Chapter 7: Fever Rush<p>

Maka's PoV

I soar into the sky as fast as I can, uncaring of how high in altitude I am and how Soul is practically screaming into my ears.

"How do you know about B-Rabbit? What do you mean by 'the mirror of myself'? Answer me or die!" I holler at the black-haired boy threateningly, icy eyes boring into my fiery ones.

"Haha! Oh, this is great! You're quite the ignorant one, to not know your own hidden identity!" he chuckles mockingly at me, fueling my anger, before adding in a sneer, "Or maybe you decided you wanted everything wiped away from that host's head you take for vessel?" if he thinks that I'm going to give him the satisfaction of showing how much _'touché'_ that was for me, than he's kidding himself.

"I know who I am," I hiss at him, zooming in the air faster and faster until we're at eye-level, both of us intending to capture and kill the other, "and I know that your soul is mine."

We attack at the same time, both of us yelling. Rune-drawn feathers shot like bullets and black scythe collide in a mash of clanging and slicing, me swiping Soul at the upcoming feathers to rip them apart and the boy whirling around himself, a tornado of sharp knife-like feathers released from him and all of them directed to me. I evade them swiftly, constantly changing track until I grab my scythe's handle and swing the blade on the boy's back.

A howl of pain is heard from the boy and a swift foot kick on my jaw knocks me off him, hurling me into one of the rocky pillars with enough force to create a large crack on it. For a moment I am blinded, the air blasted out of me and I can't breathe, too dizzy to do so. Like shooting stars, other feathers are thrown at top speed toward me. I don't notice them until Soul and Oz both shout me a "Watch out!" and I duck just in time to get only two of the bullet-feathers lodged into the sleeves of my trench coat.

Alerted by the other missiles racing toward my direction, I snatch one of them on my sleeves and hurl it with precision at the black-haired boy, literally slicing in two perfect halves one of the feathers shot at me.

"Argh!" the boy cries, temporarily distracted by the weapon stricken into his chest and I take the opportunity to dislodge myself from the second feather, falling down to the ground before Soul and I grow our wing once again on the scythe, sailing right away in a straight, vertical line until the tip of my handle slams violently against the boy's chest.

He chokes against my attack as the air is being knocked out of him. I curl my fingers into a fist and punch his face with it, another choking sound coming from him as it does. I take my chance and trap him in the space between the handle and the scythe blade. As if a space ship sailing into space, I abruptly dive downward at fast pace, him dragged alone. Suddenly shifting the angle of my blade, I stop without slowing down and the boy goes off, crashing violently against the base of a pillar, rocks crumbling onto him from the force of the collision and creating a cloud of dust.

Without missing a beat, I jump off Soul, catching him in mid-fall while increasing our Resonance until my scythe has expanded to massive proportions, glowing blue hues, painting it with power. I feel Soul's emotions racing all over me as mine does the same to him, bonding together until we are perfectly synchronized and on the same wavelengths.

**_"Witch Hunter!"_** I swipe the curved blade down in a straight line into the cloud of dust, clearing it instantly with a blast of pale blue light slicing flesh. Only it wasn't the boy I attacked. Laughter echoes all around me while I try finding its origin.

"Do you really think such a futile attack will get you a place in Noah's book? If so, than you are dumber than you look!" this boy works for Noah, interesting bit of information he just lend me. I'll have to keep that in mind.

_"Eagla!" _the boy's voice reaches my ears as a shout of delight and I immediately know that he's calling for his Chain.

_«Oz! Get ready! »_ I shout mentally and I sense in my shadow preparing himself for my signal.

Something dark and sinister slithers out of my blade and it's as if fear is suddenly gripping me tightly, paralyzing me into place. My heart suddenly pounds loudly against my chest and I find myself hardly able to breathe. Dread as to what is to come swarms all over and shuts down any process of thought, the only one kept in mind being, _Get out of here, get out of here, run, run, RUN!_

I barely pick out the flutter of wings as what seem raven black ones englobe the entirety of my being, until everything is seeping with black liquid feathers, dripping of thick fluid that almost seems like black blood, gently splotching my face with darkness.

"Maka! Maka, wake up! This isn't real!" Soul's voice, the only comfort in this cold, dark world but he is nowhere to be seen, lost in the obscure waters as only an echo, a wisp of a whisper barely capturing me.

Faces appear in the ripples of the water, gruesome monsters without jaws and milky eyes staring blindly at me, some with burned faces with eyes carved out of its sockets. They become worse at each passing second, each nightmare I've always been scared of deformed to its worst. I don't scream, I _can't_ scream, I've lost my voice the second I've felt the Chain's cold touch. I try fighting it but it looks too much real, too terrifying to be anything but horrid reality.

**_«Are you afraid? »_** again, my voice but not. This Chain, even though I'm hardly conscious of it, is using my memories against me. I feel like the water all around me is drowning me in its icy liquid, freezing me.

**_«I am your worst fear. I am you. »_** I shake my head fiercely and clamp my hands on my ears in a futile attempt to shut my own voice out of my head, in vain.

In the waters, I suddenly feel a pair of hands grab my hair and pull me out of the black, icy blood, mismatched pair of amethyst and emerald eyes staring back at me with a vicious grin on the face holding the exact same features I do. Platinum hair tickles my face as my clone leans closer to me, cold eyes boring into mine as she murmurs into my mind, **_«You let your friends nearly die for you and act as if nothing happened or worse, act like a bitch to them. They saved your worthless butt by nearly sacrificing their lives and you can't even return the favor, much less thank them properly. You only think about your little person. »_** I grit my teeth to repress a cry of anguish.

"Shut up…" I hiss lowly at her and she retorts by slamming my head roughly against the cold water, shutting me out efficiently.

**_«You brag about getting stronger to be able to protect them but when the time comes for that, you use them as a shield to protect yourself and your little ego. You let them die without a thank you. I'm cruel therefore, you're cruel to them. »_** I start debating myself against her grip but all her body is weighing on me, pushing me deeper into the waters.

**_«You're pathetic. You're worthless. You're useless without a weapon. And most of all, you're scared. »_** when I start kicking at her, she plunges my face inside the blood, blinding me from her but I know she is grinning wickedly at me, still murmuring words to my ear. **_«You're so scared of getting hurt that you let others die for you. Soul and Crona for example. Than you let your precious Oz take over you just because you were afraid of Asura. A whiny, weak, scared girl, that's what you are. And that will be the death of you. »_**

"Shut up!" I scream in the bloody water, bellowing, "You don't anything about me!" I know that it's the opposite but I don't care. I don't want to hear those words again, don't want to hear myself say them again.

**_«On the contrary, I know absolutely everything about you. Even the secrets you don't want to admit yourself. You're so terrified of ourselves that you decided to ignore who you really are and wipe away every memory of your past! »_** again, the mention of a past that I can't deny anymore. A past that I don't remember and can't recall, a past that doesn't belong to the one I know in my head since my childhood. One that isn't supposed to exist.

**_«You can't pull yourself together and that will kill everybody you hold dear to. You always spread massacre in your wake, even when you have good intentions. »_** images start forming in my head, my self standing in the middle of a pile of corpse, a strange detached expression on my face. The corpse are so distorted and twisted that I can't even recognize who is who anymore. The only color standing out is red, over and over again, coating everything in its bloody colours.

**_«I don't want to be alone again, stop dying for me… »_** this is my own thought, coming out of nowhere, tears spilling out of my eyes in joining the black water drowning me completely.

My voice again, my breathe again the curve of neck, the distorted feeling of need to reach out, find the missing light inside of me, the missing soul, **_«Find it so last… you found yourself so last… be afraid of yourself…»_** What did I find? What does 'myself' mean?

**_«Wake up, wake up now… pull you out… pull you out… pull me out… »_** my fingers interlaced with my own, the meaning of the words unable to reach my mind and soul, their fingertips barely reaching me.

Another murmur, another whisper, another dark seal, **_«Over and over, she calls… over and over, over you call out for me… you whisper your fears to me… »_** I can barely think now, distress and terror wiping out everything off my mind, my voice being the only sound in the dreadful silence of the water's rumour.

**_«Over and over, over, they fall…fall because of you…it's your fault… »_** I can't bear these words but I'm not conscious of screaming and fighting myself, my fingernails scraping at her and my knees bruising her, yet she doesn't move an inch away from me, if not pressing closer to me.

**_«We seek you… we found you so last… »_** the questions don't reach me, I can't question, can't doubt anything. Yet my mouth still opens up to speak dark promises.

**_«Pull me out… pull me out… pull me out… »_** I repeat the words over and over again, like the recital of a mantra, not registering the dark light in my eyes. I slowly lift my hands, as if watching a play in slow motions, my fingers gripping my other self's neck, the ghost of a grin looming on my lips.

I feel like I'm losing my mind.

**_«LUMOOSS! »_**

Three voices. One yelling my real name, comforting me and filling me with reassuring warmth, one that always pulls me back from the brink of insanity to clarity. The second one making me feel nostalgic, making me want to reach out and catch the person's hand and never let go again. The third one is a girl's, demanding and challenging, inciting me to do the same, to follow her lead and stand up, wherever I am. The third one is faint, only just above the quietest of whispers yet it resonates in my head like the loudest of screams. Just hearing it makes me want to cry out and let sudden grief flood out of me in the form of tears.

I reach out for myself and not just my fears. I reach out for the light.

**_"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"_** I scream at the top of my lungs, rage replacing my bone-chilling fear and like a reflex, I lift my arms high up, my palms opened outward. I slam them together and as if on command, what seems like an explosion responds to me, the shattering noise of pillars crumbling all around me reaching my ears and bringing me back to reality. The scene takes my breath away.

Instead of falling like gravity is supposed to do, the destroyed pillars swirl all around like on orbit, like drawn into the tornado I consist at the present moment. What looks like translucent glass swirls along, the sun's last rays tainting them a myriad of colours. Red eyes are staring back at me, Soul squeezing my shoulders tightly and holding onto me. The sound of chains unraveling by my simple order of unleashing themselves is heard. All this landscape makes me think about the Apocalypse.

I look at where Noah's minion is and locate him in mid-air, blood dripping from his head down his chin, a gash spurting more red liquid at his left shoulder. A cold grin spread on my face, one that I can't hold back after what he just made me suffer.

"Soul." I call at him and not a second later I am clutching him in my palms, his warming presence reassuring me. I feel Oz nudge me worriedly, mentally.

_«Please tell me you're not going insane. »_ he says, his worry unhidden from his voce, tainting it strongly.

_«I'm…I'm going to get better. »_ I was about to say that I was okay and fine to Oz but I figured that lying wouldn't solve the problem so I went for honesty. _«Just stay on alert and… thanks for bringing me back. » _

_«Well I wasn't just going to sit back and watch my friend go crazy. »_ a nervous chuckle resonates in my head and I inwardly smile a little at that before bringing my attention back to the ongoing fight.

I am still caught with Soul in the massive tornado that somehow created itself, diverting every missile plume shoved toward me from the boy. A black shadow jagged in the ends is hovering just above him, continuously changing shape for its image to be clearly distinguished, instead a blurred one appearing. Dark red liquid oozes out from here and there, flowing in the air before turning into red mist and vanishing in the blood-red sky. A sadistic grin is covering the boy's face.

"Did you have fun with Eagla?" he asks tauntingly, inciting me to stay on my ground instead of just barging in out there and ripping his throat out. "My Chain does have its ways to get into people's mind and create illusions of their fears. It shows how much you're just a weak girl instead of the essence Noah wants." At the ending of his sentence, an outraged grimace mares his features, one that reveals jealousy.

"You shouldn't even exist. Why does it have to be you, a wretched host that can't even remember itself… I want to be in his collection too! _I want to be Noah's!_" He reverts back suddenly, bending over his back at an abnormal angle and it's as if his vest splits up in two; what looks like a large jaw opening up. A brilliant light glows inside of it and shadows from the Chain's silhouette leaks into the growing ball of light. It becomes bigger and bigger.

"NOAAHH!" what appears to be euphoria englobes his face.

I step over Soul and give a kick on the ground, sending me skyward and out of the tornado that quickly dissipates itself the second I leave it, torn debris falling downward and hitting earth in loud crashes. The boy snorts at me, "It's no use trying to escape it! This is intended for you and some of your fears are linking it to you. It will follow you to the end of the world, no matter what so you can already give up!" I send death vibes at him using my eyes.

Soul's image appears on the blade, sending me a mix of the same death vibes I've been shooting along with curiosity and confusion. "What now Maka? We'll just get tired if we try escaping it."

"Doesn't it look obvious? It's our only left now so why not take it?" understanding crosses his features and I jump off him, catching the scythe in my fall and tumbling straight to the ball of light, the blade held high above my head. Of course, it's not our only option left.

Our Resonance increases at such high level of state I feel like I might explode, an explosion of emotions crashing into me and I scream, **_"Demon Hunter!"_** the longer, sharper and brighter blade exploding in prism shades of light clashes with the ball of light, at the same time I also yell out, **_"B-Rabbit! Come on out now!"_** more power running over me as I let out a loud cry.

I feel the shadow of Oz's Chain form materializing over me, looming like a dark angel of death ascending Earth, his real soul unraveling itself and probably being perceived by every meister of the world. His chains shoot right into the Chain, piercing through its hazy shape, more red exuding out until a whole bloody cloud is spilling itself on the boy, the hawsers' spiked ends grazing cuts on him and wrapping themselves around the boy's wrists, elbow, knees and ankles. Indistinct voices rise from the ball of light and let out a screech of rage, tearing through the ball in half, an explosion reverberating from behind me in my ears stridently.

I land on a criss-cross of chains having bestowed themselves against the remaining pillars, unmoving and perfectly balanced on them while my eyes sweep over the boy imprisoned by those same chains, observing him hatefully, my Demon Hunter still glowing brilliantly in the twilight.

Suddenly, I let go of Soul and jump off the chains, my two friends distinct voice ringing in my head and ears, both crying out my name in surprise. I don't pay attention to them and fall toward the boy who looks at me with mocking eyes, a sneer on his lips.

"So this is how you're going to kill me?" he snorts at me, uncaring of his impending doom, "Letting out how much inhuman you are, releasing your anger? That's gotta be a joke." I feel something crazy rise in me.

"SHUT UP! _YOU'RE_ THE ONE WHO DISRUPTS EVERYTHING!" blades unconsciously appeared on my wrists and I bring them down to slice him off cleanly when the sound of rapture momentarily distracts me and I turn my head just in time to see a foot crash into my face.

A second later I see stars, going in a merry-go-round tour, my vision spinning wildly around until I can't even tell anymore where up and down are. That is, until my head brutally collides with a pillar, feeling something crack up like an egg on my skull.

"Oi, Lumos! Haven't you happen to see Oz by any chance? He sounded real pissed when he called your name!" hhumm, that voice sounds familiar… Oh yeah! That's…! _What?!_

I look up from where I am my arms and legs spread around me. There, her silhouette the only thing I can see with the diming sun behind is her. The girl's voice that brought me back to sanity, the exact same one I just heard, deep violet eyes staring down me with power and authority, long silky chocolate hair flowing behind her and fluttering in the air like wisps of wind. Her foot is stomping on my upper body with her gloved hands set on her hips determinedly. I stare at her blankly for a few seconds, my mind spinning.

_«Tell me I'm not hallucinating Oz. »_

_«Nope, I'm as shocked as you are! »_

_«I can tell from your voice that _you_ are obviously not complaining. »_ I add a twinge of tease in my mental voice and I feel him shuffle awkwardly, what I suspect being a blush covering his face.

_«Well I don't so shut it. »_ I snicker at that.

Then we yell the same, familiar name at the same time, in perfect tandem but the meaning of the name a whole new definition.

_"Alice?!" _

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><p><strong>Wait, wait... <em>what?<em> What is out little Alice doing here, eh? And what a great way to enter the future in such grandiose style, Alice always has to barge in with either a punch, a drop-kick or a butthead! XD That's our Alice! Are you guys happy about it? Tell me all about it on the comments or reviews, they're appreciated and it helps improving the beginning of this crossover! Oh and one more thing: Eagla in Irish actually means Fear sooo...!**

**Well, that's it for me then, on this note, farewell!**


	8. Words of answers

**I'm super late for saying this but oh well: Merry Christmas! Greatly sorry for my lateness (again) and this time, I have no excuse except procrastination *evades the books thrown* Eeeh! Hey, I'll have you told that I just saw the movie Interstellar! So what? IT JUST BLOWN MY MIND AWAY, LITERALLY! Soooo... what? It means that right now, my mind and imagination is on _nuclear explosion_ so yeah, I'm not going to have writer's block for a looooonnnggg while. XD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater or Pandora Hearts. **

**Well, what are you waiting for? Geronimo!**

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><p>Chapter 8: Words of answers<p>

Oz's PoV

So Cheshire brought her in here. That explains a little at least, though not completely. I still wonder why Alyss would want to bring her twin to us, when we're trying to reach _her_ timeline. By doing that, Alice gets stuck in the future with me too so I don't quite get Alyss' objectives concerning her sister and us. She barged in, from what I saw with bewildered eyes, through a crack – inky darkness radiating from inside – in thin air, tumbling out like a miracle. I have been so surprised that I got momentarily distracted from my main objective, being between saving Maka from going utterly mad from rage or retaining the boy working from Noah to escape.

That boy, whoever he is, managed to evade my grasp. I don't know how, seeing as I roped him like a lasso in my chains but the only thing we saw afterwards Alice's unexpected arrival was him being sucked into what was obviously… a shadow. Probably something his Chain can do, traveling through shadows like Eques can but I still don't get how he managed to release himself from his bounds.

We come out of apartment's hallway and into Maka's house, Alice sauntering in like she owned the world, Maka slightly fuming, her footsteps stomping loudly against the tapestry and slightly wobbly from injuries and me waltzing in as if in the weirdest of dreams which I am technically in. Soul, laying on a sofa with his hands behind his back immediately sits bolt upright and looks at us wearily, his eyes locked into mine in a silent question.

I offer him a sheepish smile, to which he doesn't reply the same way and simply glares at me. "Sit down; there is lot of explaining to do."

"You tell me." He snorts sharply though he still flops in a sitting position and lets me sit next to him while Maka and Alice take place in the couch parallel to ours.

My eyes slightly divert themselves from Soul's gaze to wander in Alice's direction, watching her in silent curiosity for a few seconds as she observes like a new-born child the odd house she stands in along with the odd objects lying here and there, taking for example what I used to call the 'magic box' being actually something called 'television'.

I look at Soul and ask, "So, where do you want us to start?"

"Hey Lumos! Do you still have more beef?!"

"There are some leftovers of beef ragout in the pot!"

"They better taste like Gil's cooking!"

Within the girls' shouting match, I stare intently at Soul, waiting to see his reaction to the story Maka and I, along with occasionally Alice, just recounted to him. We didn't tell absolutely, totally _everything._ I did omit though, some information I couldn't bring myself to speak of, for personal and safety reasons. The fact that I'm B-Rabbit, for example. Saying that to anyone but Maka or Alice at the present time could be compared to signing my death sentence, even worse in Lord Death's territory. I just managed to say that we made a contract with a creature for its powers that could help me in my escape from the Abyss and that we're researching ways to be able to crack a portal or something similar in our mad dash for the past.

Other than that, I pretty much told Soul my current situation, how I was chasing Glen before I got sucked into the Abyss once again and how Maka's arrival pretty much saved me from that place, along with Alyss' spontaneous insanity and her death wish for me. She might have appeared gentle when Maka came in but her mind is slowly but surely edging away from lucidity and more toward madness, which my new Contractor managed to evade miraculously, just seeing a hint of what Alyss usually does when having our memories to meddle.

I simply spoke of what we though was our mission before we discovered the truth about Jack and myself. I told Soul about the search for Alice's memories, which she took care of recalling for us to him – and be careful as to not mention too much about Jack – told him about the seals holding Glen's soul but did not say about the lie Jack fed us with, when we thought it was his body that had been sacrificed, I went with the truth for that one, saying Oswald's body held his essence. I told him about the Chains and where they come from, told him we made a contract with one but we feigned being confused when Soul spoke about Maka getting taken over by myself.

Soul learned by our mouth about the organization of Pandora, what they study and their objective along with who the Baskerville are and their own goal. What Break's real aim is (though I've been careful to not say too much about his meeting with Alyss, since I respect his privacy – and he doesn't) and how Leo is the new incarnation of Glen Baskerville. I've told him about Isla Yura, Elliot's Illegal Contract with Humpty Dumpty and how the Chain managed to find Leo. I told Soul everything he needed to know, minus some things from here and there, enough to satisfy his curiosity for now.

So I am presently waiting to see if he'll either try to murder us, scream over the roofs that we're mad, faint or simply go ask for help. Both way, the worst case scenarios are playing in my head and I am slightly holding my breath for his reaction.

Soul, after a long while of silence, finishes by taking a long intake of breath and takes the speaker. "Let me guess, you're gonna ask me to keep quiet about everything that was just told or you'll kill me and hide my body in a river with all kinds of movie special effects.

"What's a movie?" Alice and I ask in tandem, the former spooning something in her mouth behind me. Maka gives in a groan and sighs, her head in her hands and a small smile uplifting her lips at Soul's gawking expression.

"Hold up a moment." Soul gives in an incredulous chuckle before looking at us with wide eyes, "You just gave me a story, the worst being a true one, that could make it to the _New York Times_'s best-sellers and you don't even know what a _movie_ is?" we give him a puzzled look and once again, I get this feeling of being left out of something very important for the century.

"No." we answer yet again at the same time and I don't need to look up to know that Alice is smiling at our shared thoughts.

Soul looks at Maka with an expression of betrayal, "You three are about to try and save the world and you don't take the time to show them the beauties of this world for their last days on earth? How could you?!" the tiny smile that had formed on Maka's face twitches, as if she's undecided on whether to turn into a grin or a scowl.

"Thank you but as you said it, we're currently trying to save the world and I don't think Oz would want to know what kind of movie _you_ watch." Yep, definitely a scowl now, an annoyed one at that. Soul's face turns deeply flustered and I can tell it's something embarrassing Maka just told him. Still…

"Hey now!" I call out to them back at me, "I know a bit about what the internet is! I want to know what a movie is too!" I feel Alice lean in over my shoulder and peek out to see her eyes wide and curious, as mine must currently be.

"I wanna know to! Where her manservant goes, her master will go too, being me!" she wraps her arms around my shoulders and she places her chin above my head, a possessive gesture I don't mind at all. Though I just hope that whatever she's eating doesn't fall on my hair.

"And it was supposed to be a serious conversation…" Maka sighs sadly and a light chuckle leaves my lips as she says it, two parts pleased and one part equally saddened by the turning of this conversation.

After a moment, under the pressure of all our eyes blazing on Maka like spotlights, she finally gives in and manages an almost quiet, "Fine, maybe tomorrow I can show you."

"SUCCESS!" we all yell in one voice and I can clearly see my pig-tailed friend flinch at the noise.

"More talking, less screaming please." She grumbles while rubbing her temples.

"Anyways," Alice says in a muffled voice between two spoonful of whatever she's munching on, "What is this miracle I'm eating at the moment?" I can hear slurping on it and I try not to laugh at the hilarious sound of it. Oh, I never thought it was going to be this good to see her again!

"It's called Nutella." Maka simply answers, before in a more suspicious voice, she asks, "How much did you eat anyways?"

Alice, probably oblivious to the danger, retorts, "It was already half-empty when I found it." I blink innocently at Maka in way that says, 'I don't what the hell is Nutella.' And her emerald glare slowly sweeps to Soul, who is equally whistling innocently. Her jaw clenches and she glares daggers at both of us.

"I just bought it yesterday." She mutters darkly and I can sense an oncoming storm from her, "Whoever eat what was supposed to be mine, it doesn't matter; you're both dead for the count." I mentally groan at this.

"So, this is the biggest library in the world?" looking at the pictures my eyes are sweeping on from the book in my hands, it doesn't look that majestic but I haven't been there yet so I'm not one to judge it. Maka though, looks like she's in heaven itself while Alice appears as confused as ever. Soul, on the other hand, seems to understand Maka a bit and his eyes are lit up in anticipation.

"Yes!" she claps her hands excitedly and seems ready to explode, "We absolutely need to go in there, this is a once in a lifetime chance we have to take! It's a miracle I found this book!" her grin widens until I wonder if her face hurts from smiling too much. Though I'm starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together and I'm starting to understand her reasons other than simply wanting to take pictures and admiring the books held in there.

"They might hold more information about the Abyss than in here, maybe even Pandora files from our timeline." I say thoughtfully, droning on, "But surely they won't allow simple teenagers like us to go in there, and that's not even counting the price of the trip to the library. Along with the fact that people will certainly be guarding the books we're searching, since the information the books hold is dangerous enough, probably kept safe by descendants from the Barma Dukedom."

"Well, you're Oz Vessalius, aren't you?" Soul asks me, boring his dried blood eyes in my verdant ones, probing me for answer. "Why don't you flash your name to the guards and they do whatever techy mojo on your face to recognize you and they let you in?" I arc a brow at his idea, already seeing faults in it and not even a second later a book is whacked on Soul's skull, the latter letting a small whine as his hands shots up to rub his throbbing head. Both Alice and I shiver at Maka simply rearranging her book to its original place as if nothing happened.

"It's not that simple Soul!" she hisses in a low voice when the librarian glares daggers in our direction, probably having the ruckus over here, "Oz and Alice are from an entirely different timeline! How do you think the people surveying the library will react if he simply waltzes in and tells them that?" well at least one person noticed the mistakes in that plan. Soul nods in understanding and sighs.

"Well, other than that, do any of you have any of you have a better idea? Because from you guys told me, we don't really have much time and need to think fast." We fall prey to our thoughts a second later, trying to cling to any idea that might pop here and there, yet nothing comes into my head. I'm pretty bloody sure that the security has largely improved since our century and that it would be a whole lot harder to break in a library now, if I looked well at how the cities and world changed since.

Alice suddenly frowns at our thoughtful expressions, before saying, "But aren't you students from the DWMA? You're supposed to have access to information like that if you want to find and hunt those monsters you chase. Why would they refuse you if you tell where you're from?" I stare at her blankly for a while, Soul and Maka doing the same before I finally crack a smile at her and ruffle her hair playfully.

"You're really smart Alice, you know that?" I compliment her and she looks at me with surprise flickering deep in her violet eyes, a blush covering her proud face. She never got much praises from us since most of the time she was extremely confused about our terms when me, Gil and the others talked, her amnesia making our words foreign to her. But now, it seems like in bonus of being the most honest person I have ever met, she is truly creative concerning her ideas and speaks like a president of some company, confident and convincing.

Soul lets a smirk crawl on his face and says, "True. If we show our student I.D. to the people there, they might understand our concerns. It should be easy for us to convince them if we tell them that the safety of the world is at stake."

Maka is still frowning though, a blush of embarrassment slowly creeping up her cheeks, "Well… I guess I could…. Ask my dad to pay our trip since we can't tell Lord Death…" that coming from her clearly means stomping on her pride and ego and Soul notices it immediately.

"Come on Maka! You just say a few words and you'll have him at your feet! You know that creep would do anything to get to your good side and after you won't ever have to talk to him." Maka clearly looks contrite and is having a large dilemma in her mind.

Alice and I both tilt our heads in a questioning manner, me asking, "I know this might be getting into your personal space Maka but… what exactly did your dad do?" I look at her shyly and her gaze seems to blaze with fire when she speaks again.

"He's a player, if you know what that means. And he was with Mama before she left him." The words process through my brain, trying to get their meanings and suddenly a disgusted scowl covers my face.

"He was with you mother and he was a player, a player of… oh the git!" I shake my head, not at all understanding the mind of people who act like her dad does and probably never will.

"Oz, what does player mean?" Alice asks me and I find her too innocent for these matters, though her stubborn expression tells otherwise and clearly explains that she'll harass me until the end of the world – which is most likely soon – if just to get an answer to her question.

Instead, Soul surprisingly answers her question. "You call Oz your manservant, yes?" when she nods confidently in response, he drones on, "Well, I'll say an example of what a player is. Your manservant leaves you, to see another girl, to whom he leaves after a week or so too, and goes again see another girl and so on." Judging by Maka's indignant expression at having answered so bluntly at the question and Alice's horrified expression, as if the answer she was given could as well be considered as her worst nightmare, she understood the meaning of the word, given that her hand immediately latches on my own as if a leash put on me from escaping her grasp.

"Now, back to subject please and off the one where you speak of the father I hate's romantic life or the nonexistence of it," Maka hisses through gritted teeth, her jaw clenched in irritation, "let's please discuss the next matter of the present situation being what kind of book we would need to find. We clearly need something specific, astrophysics for example." Again I feel extremely stupid at being ignorant of the term she just used.

"I beg your pardon?" I blurt embarrassingly at Maka, my face slightly flushing in horror at not knowing what in heaven she is speaking of.

_«Seriously Oz? Not even astrophysics? Weren't you instituted by private teachers which probably mean that you're more advanced than normal students? »_ my blush deepens at her teasing scowl.

_«I was the heir of a Dukedom, Maka. I was more into economics and such, the subjects of a future Dukedom than whatever rubbish you're sputtering about. Is it a 21st century thing? »_ the feeling of idiocy grows in me and sensing my discomfort Alice arcs a brow at me in a silent question, when she would have normally simply blurted out the question aloud as if speaking of the weather. It probably means that she doesn't trust Maka and Soul enough yet to say what she haves in mind. A sigh mentally sent from Maka.

"Scientists, Oz." Maka replies aloud, a tiny teasing smile quirking the corners of her lips upward, "Physicians that study the stars and such." Memories suddenly surge in my mind, simple whispers from dark corners when the astro-thingy wasn't as open as now.

"Oh! These people that try understanding what lies beyond us, right? Space and everything related to it. With those giant telescopes." Alice blinks at me with a confused look while Soul like Maka is obviously biting the inside of his mouth to repress a laugh. Then Maka leans in over the round table toward me and pats my shoulder with a large grin, as if pitying my ignorance and wanting to comfort me. I pout at her childishly. What? She's being unfair right now!

"Back to subject, shall we?" I grumble crossly and both Soul and Maka snort at that.

"Anyways," Maka continues, that snarky smirk still not wiped off her face, "From where we left off before I discovered something very interesting about Oz," from me comes a 'Shut it!' and 'Shhh!' from the librarian, "I was saying that we would need specific books and I mentioned astrophysics, my reasoning being that scientists do mention interesting theories concerning certain objects in the universe that could, as hypotheses, suck us up and bring us to entirely different places in the universe or an entire parallel world," both Alice and I unconsciously straighten ourselves in our chairs at the statement and we suddenly pay more attention to Maka's words, "or even be used to time travel so it would be nice knowing those theories and comparing them to the ones Abyss-related, see if there are any connections."

Smart words from her and my expression must be saying it since she smiles up at me, her entire face glowing as she finishes talking. I nod, thoughtful, before adding, "We should also search some Pandora files, maybe, since we want to time travel back in time, they have mentions of our future selves, some lead about what we're about to do and what happened when Alice and I disappeared from the map."

"The chains!" Alice suddenly squeals loudly and I make her duck just in time to evade the hardcover book wheezing past us from the furious librarian, landing past where Maka's head had been to land with not so much grace and valor as intended on some shelves, crashing and causing more books to spill and serve as ammo to Alice who immediately snatches the first book Soul lends to her to throw it with such vigor the librarian sails away with the book, her head hurled into the space between shelves and rest in them motionless. "Ha! That's for trying to attack me with a book!" a look of pride comes over both Alice and Maka's features and Soul and I sigh in resignation at them.

Coming back to her senses quickly, Alice turns to look at me with glowing eyes and shrieks to me a, "Look! This is the biggest library in the world! With all the information it can hold, it must certainly hold some form of material concerning the chains holding the world together, their origins and if we find their origin, what they consist of, we can maybe find what could mend them!" the grins on Maka and Soul's faces is nothing compared to my own, me standing up in front of Alice and grabbing her hands tightly in my own, squeezing them with mine.

"That's it! You're officially a genius!" I jeer at her gleefully.

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><p><strong>Aaawww, Oz you're currently being adorable with Alice, along with both your ignorance of the 21st century! I should do a one-shot about that, huummm... Oh, the biggest library in the world, if you don't know, is the British Library, which stores up to 13 950 000 books (hooooolllllyyyyy heeeellllll, that's <em>paradise<em> for bookworms like me!) and has like 3 000 000 sound recordings, which I imagine also means music. CAN YOU IMAGINE SUCH A PLACE? This immediately goes to my bucket list. Anyways, I forgot to proofread this (actually don't have time) so if I haveany mistakes, just tell me in the review box! Also, HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

**Well, that's it for me then, on this note, farewell!**


	9. Count the shadows

**I must say that this chapter is a little boring to me. It's more a filler than anything else, but I think you'll like how it ends and what episode I've been quoting (those who know what I'm talking about will get what I mean, I hope ^^') Also, due to massive study sessions for upcoming exams, I might not have time to post next week. Sorry for that, but I wanted at least to warn you guys. That's all I have to say!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater or Pandora Hearts. **

**Well, what are you waiting for? Geronimo!**

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><p>Chapter 9: Count the shadows<p>

Maka's PoV

Dark grey clouds roll over us like films, swaying to the wild wind hollering to us and blowing my ash blond hair away, stray strands flying to my face and occasionally blinding me. I still don't get how Alice managed to convince me to let my pig-tails down but she did, probably through either a sad puppy face or some creepy aura that may or may not surround her if we don't listen to her, meaning upcoming danger. In my opinion, I prefer the former.

Though I don't pay attention to any of those options, as I marvel like a mad fangirl at the modern architecture of the huge library in front of me, a statue of a bent over man displayed few feet to my left side. Right next to the library, acting like a background, is a large castle-like building, adding to my ravenous squeals.

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!" I shriek like a madwoman, my eyes practically sparkling, "We're actually here; we're right in front of the biggest library of the world! This is, this is…. _Oh my god!"_ from the corner of my eye, I see Soul with a look saying 'let me get out of here, there's a crazy girl next to me' Oz and Alice wearing similar expressions. Though there's tiny tug at the corner of Oz's lip, him probably more fascinated than he lets on.

Finally, we didn't very much needed to display that we're from the DWMA to anybody to pass, as the books from this library are for everybody who would need them, the source being the website of the library. Sure, some are old and fragile enough have specials identities to hold them and are preserved in peculiar rooms but I don't think those are the ones we need and some were probably digitalized for readers, the reason why I brought my tablette with me. And for the cost of the trip to London and how I managed to convinced that creepy guy called my dad to lend me the money… well, my ride was damaged enough. Let's not go into details please.

"And it's about to rain. _Again._" Soul moans, motioning for his already soaked leather jacket, "Can we just go in already?" I don't make myself be repeated and make a mad dash straight to the entrance of the British Library, just as the first few droplets of water start to splotch on my face.

_«My, are you the excited one today. »_ Oz chuckles in my head, cheerful voice contrasting against Soul's morose one, as if he was going to his own funeral.

I inwardly smirk at his comment and reply. _«Weeelll, plus the fact that we might find something about the Chains, I guess I could also mention that they probably detain _every single _copy of Holy Knight. » _not even two seconds later, he's pacing toward the reading rooms as fast as I am, dragging two whining Soul and Alice with him.

"Let's roll." He declares in a dead-serious tone with an intense look that would most than likely disturb anybody who finds themselves under that glare.

Soul groans before asking in a depressed voice, "Hey, you scanned the area right?" I nod at him, understanding the question.

"Of course," I snort lightly, "we wouldn't want another Chain attack right?" at that a shiver seems to pass right through him and I gaze at him with curios eyes.

"Did I say something?" I ask Soul and he shakes his head.

"No, but you did scare the crap out of me when you destroyed all those pillars." I frown a bit more at that while Oz leaves us two to discuss matters.

"What do you mean?" I inquire, perplexed by his statement, "it was the Chain's reaction at me not getting drown in its fear, not the other way around." Now it's his turn to gaze at me with confused eyes.

"Didn't you sense it?" when I shake my head in negative, Soul scowls, "Well, your wavelengths went totally overdrive. I actually thought for a moment that you were going to burn everything around you, me included." My face falls and I stare at him with distressed eyes.

"That was… me?" Of course it was me, what I said earlier about not feeling anything in my soul was a total lie. I did feel something very singular inside of me, more profound and powerful than anything I've ever sensed before but being used to think of myself as useless outside being a meister, I didn't want to believe it and reported the blame on the Chain of fear, Eagla. But now… I don't it's a good sign.

I glance at Soul again before adding, more bitterly, "Let's deal with this later, okay? We have other priorities right now." Soul gives in a resigned sigh but otherwise doesn't protest, instead trailing after me as I pace up to Oz's level, Alice asking him questions about what happened to the old London, a slightly panicked look at not knowing himself marring his features. I giggle at them. They're almost like cute, naïve children at the present moment.

"Just how many books are there?" Soul whines as I pick up another of before mentioned object to add at the growing pile, Oz and Alice already engrossed in a large encyclopedia by one of the long reading boxes in the large cathedral-like circular room. Not much light descends from the windows circling all around the room, twilight settling in and the rain making patterns on them and extinguishing the sunny rays of the sun, only letting clouds of grey pass through. Infinity of shelves replaces the walls, so high to reach people had to install staircases and such on different levels. They're all stacked to the brim with every kind of books you can imagine, going from musty and yellow-paged to recently published and new. Heaven on earth for me.

"Exactly 13 950 000 in the library and we're just seeing a small portion of them." I quip in matter-of-factly tone, finding another esoteric book dating from two centuries back, about parallel universe. Quite ingenious to meddle religious movements and science.

Soul looks ready to throw himself off a bridge and hisses a quiet, "How the hell are gonna make it to read all we need in one day, let alone two?! We're down to four days now before the time limit!" I grimace at the notion of time moving on without us. Why can't it just stop to let have all the time in the world to read, seriously?

"Don't remind me." I grumble under my breath. I separate the dangerously tilting pile of books in two sections and point one to Soul. "Come on, I think we have enough books to last us a while. Pick this pile up." He follows suit and we drag ourselves to Alice and Oz's box, their eyes hazy and clouded with concentration, files, volumes and manuscripts splayed messily before them along with notebooks scribbled with messy notes of their discovery. It's almost eerie to see those two so focused on the main task, very unlike their normally cheery moods.

"So," I tell Soul, picking up the first book my hand lads and taking out a sketchpad and a pen out of my satchel. "let's get down to business." I open up to the first page of the tome, entitled _Requiem for the interstellar,_ my eyes already skimming across the words quickly.

I don't know how much passes but am conscious of my hand moving to scribble notes on my pad and the hands picking books after books, quickly passing for a survey to see if it isn't only man drinking way too much who wrote them or genius of the Einstein levels. Us being focused on writing and reading, we earn ourselves a few curious glances from passersby walking past us, probably surprised to see teens no older than fifteen or sixteen concerted in a mountain of physics and magic along with laws and order. I barely notice them and don't care of who looks at us. Hardly a few whispers pass between us.

After some unknown time, Oz let's his head loll backwards and stretches himself, yawning a, "This stuff is brilliant. I've never even knew the theory of alternate universe related to our paradoxes. Maybe if we fused them together…" his gaze becomes wistful and I smile a bit sadly at him.

"I don't think that's possible. Paradoxes aren't supposed to even happen, they just create cracks in the 'walls' of the universe and fusing the original universe with the paradox's one would be like trying to stick two magnets of the same poles together. Impossible."

"But black holes could relate them." He shots back with an arced brow.

"_Could._" I retort, emphasizing on the word, "We've never even got as far as the moon for human spatial travel, trying to get to the nearest black holes would take us hundreds, no, _thousands _of years to even reach and we'd be dead long before that." Oz still looks nostalgic and snaps his fingers, his eyes slowly drawn to me.

"Do you think the Abyss could take us to other galaxies? Maybe the Abyss itself is a weird sort of wormhole or something and could shortcut us in other places in the universe." The mere thought of it makes me dreamy.

"It would be nice to see new galaxies with our own eyes…" I murmur distantly, sitting back against my chair and letting the possibility engulf me.

"What does this Milky Way looks like anyway?" Alice asks Oz with brows knotted in sheer confusion. "They talk about it in some books but I didn't find any picture!" Oz slightly diverts his gaze from Alice for a second to shoot me a pointed look. It's true that there probably weren't any or very few images of our galaxy at his century. I take the last book I read and tap Alice on her shoulder, bringing her attention at the large image of a beautiful swirl of stars and nebulas clustered in a gigantic spiral in space.

"Wow, it's very pretty…" Alice whispers and even Oz leans in to take a peek, their eyes growing more and more distant, like in a dream. I grin at them.

"And that's only our galaxy; there are millions and billions out there." I jibe casually but am conscious of just having grabbed their attention by the way their heads wipes around at my direction to look at me with wide, innocent, puppy eyes. Oh god, they're too cute for their own good, I almost want to scratch them behind the ears just like I would to Blair.

"I demand more pictures Lumos!" Alice inquires in an arduous tone, huffing proudly when I pass her another book mostly filled with images of space and the likes, inwardly smirking. I told her to call me Maka but she's just stubborn like that.

"Maka." Soul calls for me, drawing my attention from Alice toward my weapon, him holding a file out for me.

"Does the name Barma ring a bell to any of you?" He says with a smirk and my mouth almost drops to the floor. I could just kiss him right now.

"You're. Totally. Completely. _Awesome._" My grin widens as I give him a bone-crushing hug, Soul sputtering awkwardly for me to stop trying to murder him by strangle

"Oi, no snogging in front of me." I immediately release Soul and glare at us who's barely hiding the humorous smirk on his lips while Alice looks at us with a puzzled look. I can also see the excitement in his eyes about having found a Pandora file, cert old and musty from the passing of time but still there and readable.

A few moments later, Oz is seated between Alice and me, both our eyes skimming across the page and our pens scratching against paper.

"The Duke knew about the chains, that was obvious enough but I didn't think he knew about them _for years._" Oz breathes; reading the date the file was written and sorted. "This dates back from a little over four years before we even met him. Why didn't he do anything about it?"

"I don't think that douchebag as I want to call him is stupid enough to sink the world into the Abyss, Oz." I calmly retort, papers in my hands while he reads the rest.

"Except it would have been a good weapon to threaten the government with. If he wants more power or information on some stuff, he could this at them and he would have everyone at his mercy." I nod absent-mindedly, too focused on the pages I'm reading. Something is starting to form in my head, something utterly _crazy_ but yet, the seed is already planted in my mind, the idea slowly growing.

Alice frowns a little at the pages we handed her. "Why would the Core of the Abyss want the laws of its universe replace ours? Apparently, the Duke found some really old stuff proving that the chains didn't always hold our world together." Oz squints on his chair to take a look at her papers.

"Really? Does it tell what did? Does the Duke mention the name of the manuscripts? Maybe this library has it here." He yawns, more loudly this time since night is starting to settle here along with our jetlag. My own eyes occasionally droop without me being aware of it until Soul snaps his fingers before them, bringing me back to reality.

"I think I got the answer to your first question." Soul beats me to the punch and hands one paper to the blond, the latter snatching and reading it. "Every scientist that studies astronomy and physics will mostly agree to say for their count that the universe is influenced by stuff like gravity, time and space and unknown objects like dark matter and energy."

"And somehow, there's just our little planet here that's held by chains. Why?" Oz mutters, more to himself than a response to Soul. His eyes widen for a second, Alice not able to see with his back turned to her but enough for my eyes to notice it.

_«What? Do you have an idea about it? »_ I have an intense staring contest with Oz and apparently I win since his gaze veers from my own to Alice's direction, something contemplative in his look.

_«Maybe… Maybe it's because of Lacie. » _I tilt my head to one side. How curious.

_«Would you mind developing? »_ my right eye slightly twitches at the tiny twinge inside my skull, minuscule migraine.

_«I mean, maybe it created the chains because of her. She was its first friend, nobody ever interacted with it before and I saw the whole thing happen before my eyes. Maybe it just wanted to reach out for Lacie's world. »_ there's something nostalgic in the emotions flowing in me from him, I guess he misses those times and is remembering them. I feel like I should to but I don't feel anything about it but emptiness. I can't really understand his situation and relation with Lacie. Though the idea sticks and is logically insane enough to stand.

_«It could be true but something so massive… but of course, it's like doubting the king of hell. Obviously it can do just about anything. Maybe even change the laws of the universe just for her sake… »_ something abruptly twists in me and my face slightly scrunches up at the thought. It feels wrong to change a whole parallel universe just for someone you care about. It feels horribly _sick _to just think about it. Just look where it led. Bile mounts in my throat and I suddenly want to go outside and take a breath and smell the ozone of the thunderstorm of earlier and the fragrance of the rain, anything away from this currently suffocating room.

I slowly get up and look at Soul, "I'll be back in a few. I just need to take a breath." I add the last sentence when I see him gaze at me with a sharp look. He knows me too well; clearly he sees that I'm not feeling right.

With that I waltz away, answering the same thing when Oz asks me if something's not right. Obviously, the boys would have none of it, since later on I sense Alice's soul quickly join me up while she darts past me and makes a wave at me with her hands.

"Oz told me I can take a break! How dares he tells me what to do, I'm the one who should do that!" Alice grumps indignantly, her hands on her hips while a pout covers her face, soon replaced by something thoughtful after she takes a glance at me. "I think they just told me that because you are going outside alone and they want me to save you again." I raise an inquisitive brow at her, a smile tugging my mouth.

"Looks like we're on the same page here." I laugh a little to her, twirling a curled lock of her between my fingers, more frizzled by the rain than the usual straight strands.

"Sooo," Alice drawls the word while slightly bumping my shoulder with hers, "you don't feel alright? You look like you're going to throw up." She says that so nonchalantly, like it doesn't bother her that _yes,_ I feel like vomiting.

"Nope, you're right. I don't feel so great but I think going outside will make me feel better." Alice blinks at me.

"Like when you go outside and then you feel like everything bad inside of you is washed away?" she asks me and it's my turn to blink at her. "I know that feeling. I like going outside, it makes me feel more pure." I fold my hands neatly behind my back, a light smile on my lips.

"Yeah, that kind of feeling." I answer back.

A moment of silence later, she suddenly demands, "Why did you leave Lumos? Do you remember us?" I know what she means and the questions still haven't stopped in my head about the subject.

"Sorry Alice, I don't remember you or our sister. It was a surprise to even see myself with you two actually." I admit to her bitterly, before adding with a crawling smirk, "Though I still think Nox is a better name." she glares at me.

"Not true! I came in first with Oz's name so it's my right for everybody to call him that!" she declares while jabbing a finger at my face, to which I giggle a bit.

"Everybody has the right of expression." I fire back at her with a challenging glare of my own, "So I too, have the right to call him Nox."

"Well, everybody calls him Oz." she shoots back at me.

"If it weren't for you, everybody would call him Nox." I retort quickly.

"Oz is better and it's simple to remember!"

"No! Nox is and it fits his soul perfectly!"

"Oz!"

"Nox!"

"Oz!"

"Nox!"

_"Ssshhhhhh!"_ someone I don't even look at hushes us venomously in the hallway and we pout silently the whole way toward the counter at the entrance of the library. Only then do I notice that most of the building is eerily silent, literally not a single soul living here beside us. I frown a bit at that, my brain quickly processing the thought.

"Hey Alice." I call at her and she looks at me curiously, "Did you see who that person that hushed us earlier was?" for a moment she seems to think about before answering a simple "No. Just a shadow." To me. She appears to register that thought and quickly starts sniffing the air, a habit of hers to detect the smell of Chains and frowns a bit.

"There something weird about this place, a really odd smell but there's no Chain right now." She tells me and I grimace, clutching my chest. Damn nausea.

"I don't sense any soul beside ours in the library though even at night there would still be people reading here." We look at each other and we seemingly share a common thought before dashing for the counter where I saw a woman sat there when I first entered the place. I don't see anybody and when I take a peek at behind the counter, I only see a vacant chair gently spinning by itself, as if someone had left it not long ago.

"Where did everybody go? Why did they go?" I ask at nobody in particular but Alice appears to have taken the asking upon herself.

"They were maybe spellbound?" she answers while looking directly in my eyes, something oddly fierce in them. "Oz told me how the children at that orphanage were compelled to do what Yura asked them. With Humpty Dumpy, they still thought their parents were alive. Maybe there was a Chain or something else that forced everybody out." She looks so confident about her idea and it sticks so I nod at her in approval, to what she grins and leads me to find whatever's causing this, her hand gripping mine tightly. Something warm grows inside of me, looking at her like she radiates light itself and instead of the nausea, I suddenly feel like crying for no reason. I want to hold on to her as if her life depended on it but I don't know why. A tumult of emotion rages inside of me and my breath quivers.

Then I notice something odd on the floor and stop, Alice obliged to so when I do.

"That book wasn't there a second before." I say in an oddly serene voice, picking said object up with my free hand. _The Nightmare Queen_ was its title and my fingers trace over the graceful onyx carvings of it along the beautiful black wings at each side of the book, meeting at the bound of it. That wasn't left on the floor by accident, there was a reason for it, it's a message intended for both me and Alice.

_"ALICEEEE!" _that voice, it's my own again. What's up with these weird memories that make no sense whatsoever?

"Did you ~" I start asking but Alice answers before I do.

"I did." She responds, her hand that isn't gripping mine in a death grip clenching her head, her eyes squinting in what could be pain, like the migraine I'm currently having. Something trying to rise but somehow there's a force drowning it.

"Hum," Alice starts, her eyes staring at something beyond the book and when I follow her gaze before meeting something of the upmost peculiarity. "I don't remember seeing three shadows for one little book." Very understandable. Three, long shadows stretch from the book and cover the entirety of the walls in the hallway we were currently running through, meeting at the shadow on the corner of one of the walls where it turns in one direction. I immediately let go of the book, which clatters like a murderous scream on the polished floor before veering around to see Alice disposing of the same problem, two shadows related to the ones of the book. Shit.

"Don't move a single centimeter, Alice. You have two shadows." I growl at her and Alice immediately goes as stiff as a statue while I cautiously take a page off the book lying motionless on the floor, the cracking sound of paper being torn away reaching my ears. That done, I throw it inside the shadows and with horror; I see it get burned down to ashes until nothing is left of it.

"This isn't Doctor Who, damnit!" I cry at thin air but someone surprisingly answers me.

"I'll have them telling you that it was your first idea." says a snorting voice from the writhing shadows, freezing me into place. That's not possible; I only heard it in my dreams and apparently lost memories. Alice takes no time to fire back a heated reply to her.

"Show yourself coward and face the foe that'll destroy you." Within all this storm of frantic thoughts, I can't help but wonder just how many books the brunette read in her past to acquire such developed words. The question gets cut when someone forms out of the shadows and steps out of them, allowing shades of colours to be painted on her and define her.

"But you're Lumos!" Alice gawks at her just as I do, her head constantly looking between my stark-white face my other one, both of us wide-eyed at my very clone looking down at me with those same exact emerald eyes. I open my mouth to ask something but my own self seems to already what I was going to ask.

"No, I don't work with Noah but Gopher is here alright, though he hasn't taken out his Chain yet." The word 'yet' enters my mind and I shudder at the meanings and possibilities of it.

"Though I am here to kill both of you so stay still while my shadows burn you up." Oh yeah, like _that_ will happen. Uncaring of the shadows anymore, I snatch Alice's wrist just as the light of the corridor in front of us starts to flicker between shining rays and cold darkness and start running, yelling over my shoulder, "Just who the hell are you?!"

"A memory. I'm not the only one." is the reply I receive, unemotional and unnatural. We pick up a faster pace and try running toward the path we've taken earlier, going in to warn Soul and Oz but the lights are already starting to flicker, advancing quickly in our direction. My eyes frantically search for another corridor.

"This way!" Alice shouts at me and I don't make myself be repeated twice, our feet already taking long strides at the corridor on our right, paintings on the walls and books displayed in glass cabinets, along with a few gramophone disks. An uncanny giggle resonates all over the hallway and I have a hard time believing it's my own laughter. Though nobody talked, we both know that fear is thrumming through us.

"Count the shadows, little rabbits, count the shadows…"

* * *

><p><strong>Oooo...kay? So Maka just met her clone... real weird. XD So, any British reading this? Have I described well enough one of the reading rooms of the library? Because I've just got pictures from Google to use sooo... am I alright? *shy voice* Do I pass? Anyways, what do you think that means, our little scythe meister meeting her memory version? I, for my part will keep it all a secret, hehe! Makes it more fun! (yes, I'm quite the sadistic person XP) Thank you all for reading or reviewing, it warms my heart! :DD<strong>

**Well, that's it for me then, on this note, farewell!**


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